ABstract:

Background information:-Adverse drug reactions are markedly under reported consequently leading to being the major cause of morbidity and mortality. These reactions are still a big challenge in the modern health system due to increase of multi pathological conditions and complexity in medications and under reporting is associated with lack of adequate information on suspected ADRs from medicine related products. Therefore this study intends to report the awareness of and practice of clients on reporting of ADRs in ADDO and community pharmacies.

Methodology:-This was a cross sectional study which involved clients visiting ADDO shops and community pharmacies at Nyamagana district in Mwanza for the period of one month.

Results:-About 80% have heard about adverse drug reactions while 19.8% have no idea about ADRs. 42.4% of the recruited population had experienced adverse drug reactions but only about 19% had reported the experienced reactions to the health personnel while others did not report but stopped the use of drugs instantly and some tolerated the effects. Some of the suggested reasons as of not reporting the reactions, majority (34.4%) claimed that they do not know the importance of reporting and 31.3% do not know how to report these reactions.

Conclusion:-The practice of reporting of ADRs among people residing in Nyamagana district is generally poor, not knowing the importance of reporting and lack of enough information on how to report these reactions appear to be the major reasons causing under reporting of the adverse drug reactions.