Development of a surveillance system to reduce the sale of unsafe drugs in grocery stores through community participation mechanisms in Sukhirin Subdistrict, Narathiwat Province

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a surveillance system for the sale of unsafe drugs in grocery stores through a participatory process involving the community and grocery store operators. The objectives were to compare the sale of unsafe drugs before and after the implementation of the surveillance system, as well as to compare the knowledge of store operators before and after receiving training. This was an action research study conducted in 27 grocery stores between November 1, 2024, and January 31, 2025. The research followed the RDU Community approach, focusing on community participation from all sectors. The implementation involved the following key activities: 1) Surveying and gathering information on the current drug distribution situation in grocery stores, 2) Establishing a community network team to collaboratively plan the development of the surveillance system and define roles and responsibilities, 3) Building knowledge and enhancing the capacity of the community network by providing training on drug safety and relevant legislation, assessing the knowledge of grocery store operators, distributing posters on drugs that are permitted and prohibited for sale in grocery stores, and setting up a LINE group for community communication, 4) Developing a community Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to formalize the shared agreement and cooperation, and 5) Conducting follow-up inspections and providing mentoring-based guidance to participating stores. Data were analyzed using paired t-test, with the level of statistical significance set at P < 0.05.

The results revealed that the number of grocery stores selling unsafe drugs significantly decreased from 95.00% to 25.00%, representing a 70.00% reduction among all stores that had previously sold such drugs (P < 0.001). Additionally, the knowledge scores of grocery store operators significantly increased from a mean of 8.81 ± 2.30 to 12.70 ± 2.40 (P < 0.001). It can be concluded that the developed surveillance system effectively reduced the sale of unsafe drugs in grocery stores and significantly improved the operators’ knowledge, supported by strong collaboration within the community network.