Characteristics of instructions for using household medicines in rural Kenya

The language on pharmaceutical labels sold commercially in Kenya was analyzed and the comprehension difficulties for a rural Kenyan clientele outlined. The framework for the analysis is the information on text-difficulty and clear writing found in the literature concerned with the genre of instructions, and the research on comprehension of pharmaceutical instructions by African and Asian subjects. The results supported research which claims that pharmaceutical labels are difficult due to their inconsistent use of language and graphics, overreliance on English, complex numeracy tasks, and their heavy reliance on tacit information. Strategies for decreasing text-difficulty are proposed