The Impact of WHO Essential Medicines Policies on Inappropriate Use of Antibiotics.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Inappropriate overuse of antibiotics contributes to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), yet policy implementation to reduce inappropriate antibiotic use is poor in low and middle-income countries.

Aims

To determine whether public sector inappropriate antibiotic use is lower in countries reporting implementation of selected essential medicines policies.

Materials and methods

Results from independently conducted antibiotic use surveys in countries that did, and did not report implementation of policies to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, were compared. Survey data on four validated indicators of inappropriate antibiotic use and 16 self-reported policy implementation variables from WHO databases were extracted. The average difference for indicators bet

SUBMITTER: Holloway KA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4803297 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature