Practices and motives behind antibiotics provision in drug outlets in Tanzania: A qualitative study.

Dispensing antibiotics without prescription is among the major factors leading to antimicrobial resistance. Dispensing of antibiotics without prescription has negative impact at the individual and societal level leading to poor patient outcomes, and increased risks of resistant bacteria facilitated by inappropriate choice of antibiotics doses/courses. Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health threat which is projected to cause 10 million deaths by 2050 if no significant actions are taken to address this problem This study explored the practices and motives behind dispensing of antibiotics without prescription among community drug outlets in Tanzania. Finding of this study provides more strategies to antibiotics stewardship intervention. In-depth interviews with 28 drug dispensers were conducted for three months consecutively between November 2019 and January 2020 in 12 community pharmacies and 16 Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets (ADDOs) in the Mwanza, Kilimanjaro and Mbeya regions of Tanzania. Transcripts were coded and analyzed thematically using NVivo12 software. Majority of dispensers admitted to providing antibiotics without prescriptions, selling incomplete courses of antibiotics and not giving detailed instructions to customers on how to use the drugs. These practices were motivated by several factors including customers' pressure/customers' demands, business orientation-financial gain of drug dispensers, and low purchasing power of patients/customers. It is important to address the motives behind the unauthorized dispensing antibiotics. On top of the existing regulation and enforcement, we recommend the government to empower customers with education and purchasing power of drugs which can enhance the dispensers adherence to the dispensing regulations. Furthermore, we recommend ethnographic research to inform antibiotic stewardship interventions going beyond awareness raising, education and advocacy campaigns. This will address structural drivers of AMR such as poverty and inadequate government health services, and the disconnect between public messaging and/or policy and the public itself.

Pregnant women's perceptions of antenatal care and utilisation of digital health tools in Magu District, Tanzania: a qualitative study.

Antenatal care is essential to promote maternal health. Prior research has focused on barriers women face to attending antenatal care, and improving quality of care is seen as a precondition for better attendance. Digital health tools are seen as a promising instrument to increase the quality of healthcare. It is less clear to what extent the use of digital health tools in low- and middle-income counties would be perceived as beneficial by end-users. The aim of this research was to explore women's experiences with antenatal care, and whether digital health tools would change their perceptions of quality of care. This qualitative research utilised an interpretative phenomenological approach on data from semi-structured in-depth interviews collected in 2016 with 19 randomly selected pregnant women from six different dispensaries in Magu District. Findings showed that pregnant women are motivated to attend antenatal care and are grateful for the services received. However, they also articulated a need for improvements in antenatal care services such as the availability of diagnostic tests and more interactions with healthcare workers. Participants indicated that a digital health tool could help in storing patient files and improving communication with health workers. Our results indicate that pregnant women are positive about the use of digital health tools during antenatal care but that the implementation of such a tool should be implemented in parallel to structural service delivery improvements, such as testing availability.

Non-prescribed antibiotic dispensing practices for symptoms of urinary tract infection in community pharmacies and accredited drug dispensing outlets in Tanzania: a simulated clients approach.

BACKGROUND: Antibiotic dispensing without prescription is a major determinant of the emergence of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) which has impact on population health and cost of healthcare delivery. This study used simulated clients describing UTI like symptoms to explore compliance with regulation, variations in dispensing practices and drug recommendation, and quality of seller-client interaction on the basis of the gender of the client and the type of drug outlets in three regions in Tanzania. METHOD: A total of 672 Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets (ADDOs) and community pharmacies were visited by mystery clients (MCs). The study was conducted in three regions of Tanzania namely Kilimanjaro (180, 26.79%), Mbeya (169, 25.15%) and Mwanza (323, 48.07%) in March-May 2020. During data collection, information was captured using epicollect5 software before being analyzed using Stata version 13. RESULTS: Overall, 89.43% (CI: 86.87-91.55%) of drug sellers recommended antibiotics to clients who described UTI like symptoms but held no prescription and 58.93% were willing to sell less than the minimum recommended course. Female clients were more likely than male to be asked if they were taking other medications (27.2% vs 9.8%), or had seen a doctor (27.8% vs 14.7%), and more likely to be advised to consult a doctor (21.6% vs 9.0%); pharmacies addressed these issues more often than ADDOs (17.7% vs 13.2, 23.9% vs 16.6%, 17.7 vs 10.9% respectively). Sellers recommended 32 different drugs to treat the same set of symptoms, only 7 appear in the Tanzanian Standard Treatment Guidelines as recommended for UTI and 30% were 2nd and 3rd line drugs. ADDO sellers recommended 31 drug types (including 2nd and 3rd line) but had permission to stock only 3 (1st line) drugs. The most commonly suggested antibiotics were Azithromycin (35.4%) and ciprofloxacin (20.5%). Azithromycin was suggested more often in pharmacies (40.8%) than in ADDOs (34.4%) and more often to male clients (36.0%) than female (33.1%). CONCLUSION: These findings support the need for urgent action to ensure existing regulations are adhered to and to promote the continuing professional development of drug sellers at all outlet levels to ensure compliance with regulation, high quality service and better antibiotic stewardship.

Dispensing Antibiotics without Prescription at Community Pharmacies and Accredited Drug Dispensing Outlets in Tanzania: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Worldwide, antimicrobial resistance is increasing rapidly and is associated with misuse of antimicrobials. The HATUA study (a broader 3-country study) investigated the antibiotic dispensing practices of pharmaceutical providers to clients, particularly the propensity to dispense without prescription. A cross-sectional study using a 'mystery client' method was conducted in 1148 community pharmacies and accredited drugs dispensing outlets (ADDO) in Mwanza (n = 612), Mbeya (n = 304) and Kilimanjaro (n = 232) in Tanzania. Mystery clients asked directly for amoxicillin, had no prescription to present, did not discuss symptoms unless asked [when asked reported UTI-like symptoms] and attempted to buy a half course. Dispensing of amoxicillin without prescription was common [88.2, 95%CI 86.3-89.9%], across all three regions. Furthermore, the majority of outlets sold a half course of amoxicillin without prescription: Mwanza (98%), Mbeya (99%) and Kilimanjaro (98%). Generally, most providers in all three regions dispensed amoxicillin on demand, without asking the client any questions, with significant variations among regions [p-value = 0.003]. In Mbeya and Kilimanjaro, providers in ADDOs were more likely to do this than those in pharmacies but no difference was observed in Mwanza. While the Tanzanian government has laws, regulations and guidelines that prohibit antibiotic dispensing without prescription, our study suggests non-compliance by drug providers. Enforcement, surveillance, and the provision of continuing education on dispensing practices is recommended, particularly for ADDO providers.