Pharmaceutical Waste Management Practices in Pharmacies and Medicine Stores: Evidence from Bamenda Health District, Cameroon.

Introduction: The steep growth in the pharmaceutical industry over the last several decades has led not only to more medications in markets, but also to significant environmental and public health hazards when these drugs are not properly disposed. More than 3,000 active pharmaceutical substances are being administered worldwide in prescription medicines, over-the-counter therapeutic drugs, and veterinary drugs. Their active ingredients comprise a variety of synthetic chemicals produced by pharmaceutical companies in both the industrialized and the developing world at a rate of 100,000 tons per year. Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) accounts for an estimated 700,000 deaths per year worldwide. Over 23 million people have been tested with the aid of swab sticks for the novel Corona virus disease-19(Covid-19) in many parts of the world. This paints a gloomy picture on the quantum of pharmaceuticals that would have been used and eventually disposed. Purpose: This study explored and described pharmaceutical waste management practices by pharmacies and medicine stores operating in Bamenda Health District of the North West Region of Cameroon. Methodology: A mixed research design (Exploratory and Descriptive) was used. The study was cross-sectional. Exponential non-discriminative snowball sampling was used to identify 187 medicine stores while an official list from the Bamenda Health District of the NWR of Cameroon was sought to identify 13 pharmacies. Structured closed ended questionnaires and unstructured oral interviews were used to collect primary data. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the data while inferential statistics was used to test statistical significance. Results: In addition to sale of drugs, medicine stores offered services such as consultation, wound dressing, injection administration, laboratory tests, Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs). Pharmacies carried out solely the sale of drugs. There was a statistically significant difference in pharmaceutical waste management practices between pharmacies and medicine stores. Unique contribution to policy: Incentives in the form of financial reimbursements, tax cuts or tax holidays could be offered by the state to licensed drug dispensers who comply with national guidelines on sale of drug and pharmaceutical waste management.