To address the issue of literacy and to curtail the risk of an overdose, a simple pictorial prescription sticker was devised. It clearly indicated all the key elements that were required. From the number of tablets or the amount of syrup, the frequency and time of consumption and the duration of the course, were all illustrated on a sticker which was pasted by the pharmacist on the medication packaging. Common and basic symbols were utilised to ensure comprehension was absolute.

Several key areas were taken into consideration when designing the stickers. A common size was first determined based on the available range of medications available in the emirate. Next came the dosage and consumption frequency which had to be carefully segmented to regular prescription requirements. A durable yet cost-effective material was identified before shortlisting to the simplest form of design.

Based on these needs, 3 variations of stickers were produced: Tablets, Capsules and Syrups. The duration for each course was also broken down into the 3 main meal periods as there's generally a 5-hour interval between each which is what doctor's normally recommend. The designs were kept very basic with allocation of space for manual markings.

To ensure comprehension is at its fullest, pharmacists were directed to mark each section of the label in the presence of patients giving them clarity on how to understand the labels.

• 100% comprehension and ease of use by pharmacists

• 97% comprehension by illiterate blue-collared workers

• 0 reported cases of medication overdose in Dubai

• Introduced to 247 registered pharmacies and government hospitals across Dubai

Dubai has a huge number of blue-collared workforce. A vast majority come from rural areas from around the region and from the Asian sub-continent which covers India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh. Most of these workers are illiterate or have limited literacy and converse only in their native language which limits their comprehension on many things. This includes taking medication. More than often, these workers make a guess on dosage and risk suffering from an overdose. To overcome this, the challenge was to device a system which could work across the different profiles of workers. It had to be simple, cost-effective and above all universal in application.