Automedication

Automedication is the administration of drugs without medical orientations, which is a common practice among Brazilian people. This habit can bring risks, varying from wrong administration to possible medicinal interactions. According to the Brazilian Association of Pharmaceutic Industries (ABIFARMA), about 20.000 people die in Brazil, victimized by automedication. The higher incidence of problems related to this habit is linked to intoxication and hypersensitiveness or allergy. Based on these information, students of Pharmacy and Biomedicine from Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL-Brazil) Center of Academical Studies from Maceió (CESMAC), under medical supervision, organized a work for population aware, alerting about the risks of automedication. In the assisted community of Santa Lúcia (Maceió, state of Alagoas-Brazil), talks were done about those risks concerning to allopathic or phytopatic drugs. Educative pamphlets were distributed, orientating about the importance of a doctor to threat symptoms of unknown origin. This work reached the target population and alerted other students about the work of professionals of the health area to educate poor individuals and populations without health assistance or information, that many times put their life in risk.  Considering the problems that can be created by automedication, it is evident that the important role of the control and supervision, besides the aware coming from professionals that act directly on the delivery of drugs, as pharmacy salespeople, pharmaceutics, doctors, nurses, auxiliars and so on, to avoid complications caused by this dangerous habit.