Counseling on Household-Scale Pharmaceutical Waste Disposal at Talise Public Health Center

Improper disposal of pharmaceutical waste can harm the environment and public health. Public knowledge regarding appropriate household-level drug disposal remains limited. This community engagement aimed to improve the knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of residents regarding the handling of expired and damaged medicines. The activity was conducted at Bumi Roviga Sub-Public Health Center, a unit under Talise Public Health Center, Palu City. A total of 24 respondents, selected randomly among parents attending child health checks or antenatal care, participated in the program. The counseling was delivered face-to-face and supplemented with printed educational flyers. A pre-test was administered at the location, while the post-test was distributed via WhatsApp using Google Forms one week later. Shapiro-Wilk normality tests indicated non-normal data distribution. Paired t-tests showed significant improvements (p<0.05) in knowledge (p=0.000), attitude (p=0.000), and behavior (p=0.000) scores, indicating the effectiveness of the intervention. This activity demonstrates that brief counseling supported by print media can effectively enhance public understanding of safe drug disposal at the household level. As a recommendation, household-level pharmaceutical waste education should be integrated into routine health promotion activities at community health centers, with periodic follow-ups and the empowerment of community health workers or pharmacy students as local facilitators to support long-term behavioral change.