Antibiotic prescription for HIV-positive patients in primary health care in Mozambique: A cross-sectional study

Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Antibiotic prescription for HIV-positive patients in primary health care in Mozambique: A cross-sectional study
 
Creator Faiela, Candido Sevene, Esperanca
 
Subject — prescription; antibiotics; HIV; primary health care; drug resistance; drug interactions
Description Background: Antibiotic overuse is a major public health challenge worldwide and it can result in the emergence and spread of drug resistance. In Mozambique, there are limited data related to primary care physicians’ antibiotic prescription patterns. The aim of this study was to assess the antibiotic prescription patterns for HIV- positive patients in primary health care.Methods: A prospective cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted in eight primary health care units in Southern Mozambique. The study was based on recording outpatient prescriptions using a structured questionnaire. Three hundred and sixty-nine prescriptions and clinical records of HIV-positive patients from 31 prescribers were assessed. A total of eight general practitioners, 13 medical technicians and 10 nurses participated.Results: Antibiotics were used in 65.9% of prescriptions, with an average of 0.9 antibiotics per prescription. Of a total of 334 prescribed antibiotics, 69.8% were for the treatment of infections and 30.2% for prophylaxis. Penicillin (29.2%), sulphonamides (19.7%), and quinolones (16.3%) were the most prescribed classes of antibiotics for treatment. For prophylaxis, only sulphonamides (93.1%) and macrolides (6.9%) were prescribed. The diagnosis was the only variable that had a significant association with antibiotic prescription (p  0.001). Most of penicillins (68.0%) and sulphonamides (21.4%) were prescribed to treat infections related to the respiratory tract.Conclusion: The prescription of antibiotics was high and influenced by patient clinical conditions. Antibiotics were prescribed either for treatment or prophylaxis of infections, mostly to treat respiratory tract infections. Prescribers should be encouraged to adopt a rational use of antibiotics to reduce unnecessary prescriptions.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor
Date 2022-02-28
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajid.v37i1.340
 
Source Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases; Vol 37, No 1 (2022); 7 pages 2313-1810 2312-0053
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/340/896 https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/340/897 https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/340/898 https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/340/899
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2022 Candido Faiela, Esperanca Sevene https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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