RESUMEN
Background: Children in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) receive a staggering number of antibiotic prescriptions, many of which are inappropriate. We aimed to explore the proportion of antibiotic prescriptions from qualified sources of children under five who had a fever/cough in the two weeks prior to the survey in LMICs. Methods: We used data from cross-sectional studies of the latest Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) datasets (n = 43,166) in 59 LMICs covering Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa-West Asia-Europe, Central Asia, South & Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Latin America & the Caribbean regions. The study was conducted from March 2, 2020 to October 15, 2022. We only included the latest available surveys by country, and children under five who had taken antibiotics for fever/cough were included in the study. Finally, the outcome variable was classified into two distinct categories: those who had taken antibiotics from qualified sources and those who did not. Findings: About three in four children (74.0%) received antibiotics from qualified sources. Tanzania (22.4%) and Malawi (99.9%) had the lowest and highest percentages of antibiotic prescriptions by qualified sources, respectively. Oceania had the highest percentage of qualified antibiotic prescriptions with 88.9% and Central Asia had the lowest percentage with 56.3%. Interpretation: As unqualified sources of antibiotics for fever/cough in children under five were alarmingly high in some of the LMICs, the study emphasises the importance of nationwide efforts to regulate antibiotics prescriptions. Funding: None.
RESUMEN
Introduction: Each year, antibiotics save hundreds of thousands of lives; nonetheless, antibiotic self-administration is a major concern all over the world. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of antibiotic self-administration among two-month adult antibiotic users as well as the factors contributing to this prevalence. Method and Participants: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 295 Bangladeshi adults between May 22nd and June 15th, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Descriptive statistics included frequency distribution, while inferential statistics included the Pearson chi-square test. For data analysis, the statistical software STATA-16 was used. Results: In this study, the prevalence of antibiotic self-administration was 17.97%. Antibiotic self-administration was found to be significantly more prevalent among those who were unable to take antibiotic on time, incomplete doses, did not know over prescriptions may cause antibiotic resistance, and could not correctly recognize amoxicillin and azithromycin are antibiotics. Conclusion: Due to the increased rate of antibiotic self-administration among adults in Bangladesh, the responsible authority should give more attention towards the factors responsible for antibiotic self-administration and revise their current policy to ensure the safe and effective use of antibiotics.
