Assessment of the knowledge of the population of the municipality of Serraria-PB regarding the disposal of medicines

• Autor(a) principal: Araújo, Adolf Hitler Cardoso de
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Monografias Ambientais
• Texto Completo: http://periodicos.ufsm.br/remoa/article/view/65892
• topic: Medicamentos; Descarte inadequado; Impactos ambientais; Medicines; Inappropriate disposal; Environmental impacts

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the main activities that drive the global economy, due to the high population growth, the evolution in the understanding of pathologies and the continuous research involving several substances that can be applied therapeutically. These factors directly influence a greater control of diseases that is due to the constant production, release and use of medicines that have the purpose of preventing, treating, alleviating or diagnosing. Therefore, it is natural to accumulate drug residues that need to be disposed of correctly, however, this does not occur and they are released into the environment, thus causing harmful damage due to the high variability of existing substances in its composition. Given that Brazil is one of the world's largest consumers of medicines, we need to study and understand how and where these substances are ending their life cycle. Due to the need for continuing research on the disposal of medicines and because it is a public and environmental health problem, this study aimed to make a diagnosis of the knowledge of the population of the municipality of Serraria located in the state of Paraíba about the disposal of possible damages generated by the application of improper disposal. Through the application of questionnaires to the residents of the aforementioned municipality, it was possible to confirm the existence of improper disposal of medicines in places that are not prepared for this exposure, being the common waste used as the main form of disposal in the studied municipality. The lack of information and dissemination about the inappropriate disposal and the environmental impacts generated by the drugs proved to be quite evident, so it is necessary to efficiently employ environmental education and awareness so that correct habits are used by residents.