A Rational Use of Antibiotics at the Primary Health Care Level of Bangladesh

Abstract

Increasing the rate of antibiotic resistance is a global problem today. One of the most important causes of developing resistance is irrational use of antibiotic. Some other causes are inappropriate prescription of doctors, unjustified self medication of patients. A survey project has been designed at Shariatpur Sadar Upozila under Shariatpur district to measure and explore the abuse of antibiotic. This study is aimed to estimate general knowledge and awareness of patients regarding use of antibiotics to find out possible reasons of irrational use of antibiotics in the rural areas of Bangladesh. It was a questionnaire based cross sectional health survey conducted on 50 subjects aged 15 or over who came to get service at Shariatpur Sadar hospital and in different private clinics. It was found from the study that the general knowledge of the patients about the indication of antibiotics was very poor. Majority of the patients did not know the appropriate use of antibiotics. From physicians survey it was evident that, 27.27% doctors prescribe antibiotic in suspected infection while 63.64% of them prescribed antibiotics in confirmed case, 81.82% reported, patient didn't complete the full course of antibiotic always, 72.73% preferred Cephalosporin incase of empirical therapy. From patient survey we found that, approximately 30% patient visited the doctor for cold, fever, diarrhea, 48% took antibiotic without consulting doctors, 68% stopped taking antibiotic when symptoms disappear, 30% followed the proper time schedule. This study indicates that there is an urgent need of health education for the community to increase knowledge and awareness about use of antibiotics to decrease the self-medication and inappropriate use of antibiotics