High School Students Are a Target Group for Fight against Self-Medication with Antimalarial Drugs: A Pilot Study in University of Kinshasa,Democratic Republic of Congo

Aim. to assess the self-medication against malaria infection in population of congolese students in kinshasa,democratic republic of congo (drc). methods. a cross-sectional study was carried out in university of kinshasa,kinshasa,democratic republic of congo. medical records of all students with malaria admitted to centre de sant� universitaire of university of kinshasa from january 1,2008,to april 30,2008,were reviewed retrospectively. results. the median age of the patients was 25.4 years (range: from 18 to 36 years). the majority of them were male (67.9%). artemisinin-based combination treatments (acts) was the most used self-prescribed antimalarial drugs. however,self-medication was associated with the ingestion of quinine in 19.9% of cases. no case of ingestion of artesunate/artemether in monotherapy was found. all the medicines taken were registered in drc. in this series,self-prescribed antimalarial was very irrational in terms of dose and duration of treatment. conclusion. this paper highlights self-medication by a group who should be aware of malaria treatment protocols. the level of self-prescribing quinine is relatively high among students and is disturbing for a molecule reserved for severe disease in congolese health care policy in management of malaria. � 2016 rams�s kabongo kamitalu and michel ntetani aloni.