Online medication purchasing during the Covid-19 pandemic: A pilot study from the United Arab Emirates

Southern Med Review

article

Jairoun, Ammar Abdulrahman¹  Al-Hemyari, Sabaa Saleh²  Abdulla, Naseem Mohammed¹  El-Dahiyat, Faris³  Jairoun, Maimona⁴  AL-Tamimi, Saleh Karamah⁵  Babar, Zaheer-Ud-Din⁶ 

[1] Health and Safety Department;Department of Pharmacy, Ministry of Health and Prevention;College of Pharmacy, Al Ain University;College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Ajman University;Faculty of Pharmacy, Aden University;Department of Pharmacy, School of Applied Sciences, University of Huddersfield

关键词: Online pharmacies;    COVID-19;    Patient safety;    Online medication;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40545-021-00320-z

学科分类：药理学

来源: BioMed Central

【 摘 要 】

Since the WHO announced that Covid-19 had become a global pandemic, online pharmacies have emerged as an extremely popular way to purchase medication due to the quarantine measures introduced by numerous countries to prevent the virus's spread. The aim of this study was to collect information regarding the extent of online medication purchasing in the UAE and to assess the factors that motivating the purchase of medications from the internet. A convenience sampling of people living in the UAE was used to conduct an online descriptive cross-sectional study. Respondents were solicited using the social media platforms WhatsApp and Facebook, whereby they were asked to fill in a validated web-based questionnaire. The number of people buying medications from online pharmacies was calculated using a percentage with 95% CIs. 131 respondents (31.2%) [95% CI: 26.7–35.6] stated that they purchased medication via the internet after Covid-19 was classed as a pandemic. It was found that those respondents most likely to have purchased medication via the internet were male, single, and older and with a high school education. More research should be conducted to investigate and compare the self-medication and associated risk factors between online pharmacies and community pharmacies. Moreover, regulatory bodies need to make and implement changes to the regulations that govern the sale and use of medications during COVID-19.

【 授权许可】

Unknown