Introduction: For a medicine to qualify as safe and effective and to be of good quality, it should be properly labelled, stored, and transported. If a medicine is not handled properly, it ends up being unfit. Improper disposal of unfit medicines contributes to the appearance of their metabolites in the environment.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was designed to capture quantitative data. The study was conducted in Mwanza region, Tanzania. The study population comprised nongovernmental hospitals and private medicines outlets in the region. The sample size was 111 facilities. This study was conducted between October 2013 and May 2014. The questionnaire was used to assess experience and challenges of dealing with unfit medicines. A review of waste management records was done to capture data of past disposal for unfit medicines. The coded data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (Version 20.0) computer analysis software. Comparison of proportions between groups was performed using Pearson's chi square.
Results: The majority of facilities (41.4%) used methods such as the pouring of unfit medicines into the sink and into the dustbin. About 60.4% of facilities were found with unfit medicines at the time of survey. Majority of unfit medicines found were antibiotics (64.1%). Almost 10% of health facilities maintained a register book for recording unfit medicines.
Conclusion: There was improper disposal of unfit medicines in health facilities studied, whereby commonly reported methods of disposal were pouring into the sink and putting into the street dustbin. In private medicines outlets, there was poor storage management practice as some of the unfit medicines were left unpacked into boxes or separated from the usable medicines and not properly labelled.