SETTING: The study was carried out in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study using a self administered questionnaire including adults above 21 years old as an exit survey was conducted in Kuala Lumpur.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Number of medications taken in a day by participants, source of medication for the treatment of minor illnesses among participants, common illnesses chosen for self-medication by participants, and the sources of information of participants.

RESULTS: Of 314 participants, 62.7% had taken at least one medication in the past week without prescription and 62.7% believed that over the counter medicines were just as effective as those prescribed by doctors. 69.4% would seek a healthcare professional's advice before purchasing any medication and 86.9% would consult a pharmacist prior to buying medication from the pharmacy. Only 86% checked the expiry dates on medications and 54.5% reported keeping leftover medication.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed from January to April 2020 among students at Jahangirnagar University (JU), Bangladesh. Purposive sampling was conducted through an in-person interview using a structured questionnaire. Students from the faculties of biological sciences and non-biology background were included. The univariate ordinal regression technique was used to analyze the relationship between predictors and good knowledge about the antibiotics. A two-tailed p-value was calculated to determine statistical association.

Results: Out of 205 study participants, 92 and 113 responders were from biological science faculty and non-biology disciplines, respectively. Less than half of the students (42.4%) showed a good knowledge level (scores higher than 80%). Biology-background students possess better knowledge than non-biology students [odds ratio (OR) = 4.44, 95% confidence level (CL) (2.56, 7.70), p < 0.001]. A better attitude was noticed among all students. The self-medication rate was quite low, and more than 90% of students were found to consume antibiotics according to the physician's prescription. Lack of treatment adherence was recorded, and students admitted to stop-taking antibiotics when symptoms disappeared (48.67% biology and 36.26% non-biology). Multivariate regression analysis was unable to detect any significant association between self-medication and gender, student category or the level of knowledge about antibiotics.

HYPOTHESIS: The One-World Medicine concept attempts to merge the best of traditional medicine from developing countries and conventional Western medicine for the sake of patients around the globe.

STUDY DESIGN: Based on literature searches in several databases, a concept paper has been written. Legislative initiatives of the United Nations culminated in the Nagoya protocol aim to protect traditional knowledge and regulate benefit-sharing with indigenous communities. The European community adopted the Nagoya protocol, and the corresponding regulations will be implemented into national legislation among the member states. Despite pleasing progress, infrastructural problems of the health care systems in developing countries still remain. Current approaches to secure primary health care offer only fragmentary solutions at best. Conventional medicine from industrialized countries cannot be afforded by the impoverished population in the Third World. Confronted with exploding costs, even health systems in Western countries are endangered to burst. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is popular among the general public in industrialized countries, although the efficacy is not sufficiently proven according to the standards of evidence-based medicine. CAM is often available without prescription as over-the-counter products with non-calculated risks concerning erroneous self-medication and safety/toxicity issues. The concept of integrative medicine attempts to combine holistic CAM approaches with evidence-based principles of conventional medicine.