Eeva Kumpula
Surely everyone knows how to use their medicines exactly as advised, and complies with all the instructions?! I clearly remember thinking this during my pharmacy undergraduate studies when the lecturers talked about people misusing their medicines. Why would anyone not comply? But as soon as I was ‘in the real world’, working in community pharmacies, I realised that no – people DON’T always use their medications safely, or as intended.
My entry to the University of Otago’s recent ‘Bake Your Thesis’ competition shows the ‘wave of pills’ out there that is causing harm to people in the community. My research examines this ‘wave’ in detail, to try and identify the particular medications most responsible for causing the damage. The pills on the cake form a symbol for emergency medical help.
One cause for concern and source of ill health is poisonings. The majority of poisonings or overdoses with medicines occur as a result of a simple mistake or an unintentional error in judgment (“Oh, I thought it would be fine to just take two extra pills!”). But about two-thirds of poisonings that lead to a presentation at an Emergency Department (ED) are caused by intentional decisions to take too much. There are many reasons why someone may overdose on purpose.
As a child and younger teenager I had never taken much interest in my body. I remember my first period because I told my mother about it. Her response was very matter-of-fact. Sanitary pads, she said, were a waste of time. Only fussy, immature girls who couldn’t cope with tampons used them. There was no reason for me to try them because I could go straight to the adult solution: tampons. However, tampons were a gross waste of money and there was no need to buy them. Instead, she took me to the bathroom, ripped off 8 sheets of toilet paper, and placed one sheet on top of the other to make a pad. Next she rolled the wad of paper into a tube, and then folded it in half. This is all you need, she said passing me the roll-your-own tampon. And that was pretty much it. Over the years I perfected her version by making the fold first, then rolling — it was much neater.
The 194 member states of the World Health Organisation (WHO) met recently in Geneva for the annual United Nations-affiliated World Health Assembly. The delegation from Ecuador proposed a global public health resolution to encourage breastfeeding. The resolution stated that research evidence convincingly shows that mothers’ milk is healthiest for children, and called on governments to “protect, promote and support breastfeeding” and to strive to limit inaccurate or misleading marketing of breastmilk substitutes (infant formula).