Facilitators for establishing a home-based medicine reverse logistic system in low- and middle-income countries – a scoping review

BackgroundThe end-of-use and end-of-life medicines at households are often disposed of improperly, which has harmful environmental impacts. Health hazards like antimicrobial resistance can occur. A home/household-based medicine reverse logistics system can avoid improper disposal of medicine waste,...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jose Vincent, Thekkumkara Surendran Anish
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-07-01
Series:Frontiers in Pharmacology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1568696/full
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849417804985401344
author Jose Vincent
Thekkumkara Surendran Anish
author_facet Jose Vincent
Thekkumkara Surendran Anish
author_sort Jose Vincent
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundThe end-of-use and end-of-life medicines at households are often disposed of improperly, which has harmful environmental impacts. Health hazards like antimicrobial resistance can occur. A home/household-based medicine reverse logistics system can avoid improper disposal of medicine waste, and it can recover any remaining value from end-of-use medicines.MethodsWe did a scoping review to identify the key facilitators that help the initiation and establishment of a Medicine Reverse Logistics (MRL) system for the collection of unused medicines from households. Google Scholar and PubMed were the databases searched. A qualitative synthesis of included studies was performed. Themes and subthemes were identified. The keywords used were medicines, drugs, reverse logistics, homes, houses, and households.ResultsThe awareness level of the various stakeholders, the sharing of responsibilities among stakeholders, incentives to stakeholders, political will and legal framework, and the utilization of logistics managerial capabilities of pharmaceutical companies were identified as key facilitators.
format Article
id doaj-art-d589feeecb26499f90f80c49fae776bc
institution Kabale University
issn 1663-9812
language English
publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Frontiers Media S.A.
record_format Article
series Frontiers in Pharmacology
spelling doaj-art-d589feeecb26499f90f80c49fae776bc2025-08-20T03:32:37ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Pharmacology1663-98122025-07-011610.3389/fphar.2025.15686961568696Facilitators for establishing a home-based medicine reverse logistic system in low- and middle-income countries – a scoping reviewJose Vincent0Thekkumkara Surendran Anish1Department of Community Medicine, Amala Institute of Medical Sciences, Thrissur, Kerala, IndiaDepartment of Community Medicine, Nodal Officer, Kerala One Health Centre for Nipah Research and Resilience, Kozhikode, Kerala, IndiaBackgroundThe end-of-use and end-of-life medicines at households are often disposed of improperly, which has harmful environmental impacts. Health hazards like antimicrobial resistance can occur. A home/household-based medicine reverse logistics system can avoid improper disposal of medicine waste, and it can recover any remaining value from end-of-use medicines.MethodsWe did a scoping review to identify the key facilitators that help the initiation and establishment of a Medicine Reverse Logistics (MRL) system for the collection of unused medicines from households. Google Scholar and PubMed were the databases searched. A qualitative synthesis of included studies was performed. Themes and subthemes were identified. The keywords used were medicines, drugs, reverse logistics, homes, houses, and households.ResultsThe awareness level of the various stakeholders, the sharing of responsibilities among stakeholders, incentives to stakeholders, political will and legal framework, and the utilization of logistics managerial capabilities of pharmaceutical companies were identified as key facilitators.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1568696/fullmedicinesdrugsdrug wastereverse logistic chainenvironmental risk
spellingShingle Jose Vincent
Thekkumkara Surendran Anish
Facilitators for establishing a home-based medicine reverse logistic system in low- and middle-income countries – a scoping review
Frontiers in Pharmacology
medicines
drugs
drug waste
reverse logistic chain
environmental risk
title Facilitators for establishing a home-based medicine reverse logistic system in low- and middle-income countries – a scoping review
title_full Facilitators for establishing a home-based medicine reverse logistic system in low- and middle-income countries – a scoping review
title_fullStr Facilitators for establishing a home-based medicine reverse logistic system in low- and middle-income countries – a scoping review
title_full_unstemmed Facilitators for establishing a home-based medicine reverse logistic system in low- and middle-income countries – a scoping review
title_short Facilitators for establishing a home-based medicine reverse logistic system in low- and middle-income countries – a scoping review
title_sort facilitators for establishing a home based medicine reverse logistic system in low and middle income countries a scoping review
topic medicines
drugs
drug waste
reverse logistic chain
environmental risk
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1568696/full
work_keys_str_mv AT josevincent facilitatorsforestablishingahomebasedmedicinereverselogisticsysteminlowandmiddleincomecountriesascopingreview
AT thekkumkarasurendrananish facilitatorsforestablishingahomebasedmedicinereverselogisticsysteminlowandmiddleincomecountriesascopingreview