Lay summary
Dispensed medicine labels provide instructions about how much medicine to take and how often. Though some information is legally required, how information is presented on labels is unregulated in Aotearoa. Information presentation affects the understandability of instructions. A recent audit identified substantial variation in how instructions are presented on paediatric medicine labels. There is a need to identify how the presentation of medicine labels influences instruction understandability for different population groups, including Māori and Pacific peoples.
The proposed activation activities will focus on:
1) Developing relationships with Māori and Pacific communities to ensure that the work is co-designed with Māori and Pacific whānau and the findings prioritise their views.
2) Reviewing international evidence for improving the understandability of medicine labels.
3) Establishing an advisory group.
This will provide the foundation for a post-Activation project where strategies are co-developed to improve understandability of, and reduce variation in, the medicine labels dispensed for children in Aotearoa.