Excessive Rates of Antibiotic Prescriptions for Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Between 2007 and 2017, children in eight lowand middle-income countries received, on average, 25 antibiotic prescriptions from birth through age five - up to five times higher than the already high levels observed in high-income settings. Many of the prescriptions are unnecessary and might exacerbate resistance. The number of antibiotic prescriptions for young children ranged from one per year for children in Senegal to 12 per year for children in Uganda. Children in lowand middle-income countries (LMICs) are receiving an average of 25 antibiotic prescriptions during their first five years of life, an excessive amount that could harm the children's ability to fight pathogens as well as increase antibiotic resistance worldwide, according to a new study from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "We knew children in LMICs are sick more often, and we knew antibiotic prescription rates are high in many countries. What we did not know was how these elements translate into actual antibiotic exposure-and the results are rather alarming," said Günther Fink, lead author of the study and head of the Household Economics and Health Systems Research unit at Swiss TPH. The study - the first to look at total antibiotic prescribing in children under the age of five in LMICs - was published on 13th December in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.