Self-care measures were “vital” during the covid-19 pandemic in Latin America to maintain health, deal with the disease and relieve pressure on health systems, a study revealed on Thursday.
The study “Impact of COVID-19 on health habits, use and purchase of self-care products and experience with digital services” of the Latin American Association for Responsible Self-Care (ILAR) It was carried out in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama.
The document, which conducted online interviews with 4,667 people (57% women and 43% men), detailed that 84% of Latin Americans admitted that self-management of their health occupies a “very relevant” place.
Thus, 56% of those interviewed suspended their consultations and 21% discontinued prescription treatments.
Those surveyed decided to bet on a healthier life, since 73% said they maintain a good diet and play sports.
Likewise, 49% indicated that they acquire over-the-counter medications to treat minor conditions, despite the fact that 52% admitted that they did not have the adequate knowledge to take self-care actions with confidence.
Access to products and lack of health education
For him 91% of Latin Americans found it “easy” to access self-care and non-prescription products, and 86% said there was sufficient availability of over-the-counter medicines during the pandemic. 30% used e-commerce at least once to buy these products.
The countries with the highest availability of over-the-counter medicines are Colombia and Costa Rica, with 90%, followed by Argentina and Guatemala, 89%, Brazil, 86%, Mexico, 85%, Chile and Panama, both with 80%, and in last place, Peru, with 79%.
91% would like to receive more information to take better care and self-manage simple and non-serious conditions, since the main sources of consultation are health professionals, family and friends, and the Internet.
Given this, the study highlighted that 90% look for information about medicines on the Internet and 94% consider it “essential” to have more details on the network, although 62% believe that there is “enough” information about medicines on the web.
Still, 57% prefer to go to online pharmacy and other sites, and even 45% applaud the incorporation of new technologies in the packaging, such as the quick response (QR) code, to obtain more information about the medicine.
42 percent used telemedicine
In Latin America, 42% of those surveyed used telemedicine during the pandemic, of which the majority (92%) had a good experience, so much so that 85% would use it again in the future.
Brazil was the country that reported the lowest use of this type of consultation, with 32%, and Colombia reported the highest, with 66%.
56% used digital services and of these, 93% would do so again after the pandemic to obtain information on symptoms, monitor healthy activities, follow up, care or appointments for medical consultations, and monitor symptoms related or not to the covid-19.
0 Comments:
Publicar un comentario