[The pharmacy: a health resource].

In Guatemala, as is the case in many of the other Central American countries, the pharmacy is often the only health resource used outside the household. This paper analyzes knowledge, attitudes and practices of the personnel from seven pharmacies located in marginal-urban areas of Guatemala. It also studies their interaction with 3,277 users related to all diseases, specifically those related to diarrheal disease and its treatment. Findings revealed that the pharmacies' personnel handle diarrheal disease in an empirical way, using medicines to treat the cause of the diarrhea, instead of trying to prevent dehydration. There are limitations and deficiencies of knowledge and practices related to the use and abuse of non-indicative medicines, insofar as the pharmacies' personnel and users are concerned. Findings also revealed that the Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) are not used, and prepared oral serum is used in very small amounts, because these do not fit in popular expectations of a medicine that reduces diarrheic evacuations.