A survey on the use of antibiotics purchased through retail pharmacies was conducted in the Badinh district of Hanoi, Vietnam. The survey found that purchasers visit a pharmacy when they or those who felt they needed antibiotics had minor symptoms such as cough (34.1%), sore throat (32.5%), stomach upsets (10.0%) and diarrhoea (8.8%). The most often purchased antibiotics were ampicillin (31.1%), amoxyllin (16.7%), cotrimoxazol (11.6%), tetracycline (5.2%) and cephalexin (4.8%). The median of the purchased quantity was 10 tablets, the mean 11.34 tablets (95%CI 9.65-12.97). About 30% of the purchasers intended to take antibiotics for three days or less. The mean cost of a antibiotic purchase was US$1.27 (95%CI 1.06-1.39). The main reason for not taking a full course of antibiotics was not economic constraint, but the purchasers' poor knowledge about antibiotics. Logistic regression analysis indicates that age of purchasers, length of symptoms and kinds of treatment used before visiting a pharmacy could be used as predictive variables for the decision to buy antibiotics in preference to alternative drugs. Antibiotics are used when illness lasts longer than one week and antibiotics have not yet been taken. Antibiotics are also purchased by young rather than old people. The study documents the need for better health education about the rational use of antibiotics in the general public.
A survey was conducted in a sample of 29 pharmacies in the Badinh district of Hanoi, Vietnam, to determine the knowledge and behaviour of pharmacy staff in dealing with cases of acute diarrhoea in children. The survey found that antibiotics and antidiarrhoeal drugs were suggested in the majority of cases (45 per cent and 69 per cent, respectively) while oral rehydration salts (ORS) were suggested in only one case. In about 80 per cent of the observed cases in which antibiotics were supplied, one to four tablets were given, enough for only one to two days. The advice given by pharmacy staff to purchasers was poor. Only about half the pharmacy staff asked for information about the stool, age of the child and frequency of diarrhoea, while questions about medicines that had already been taken, feeding and health status were rarely asked. In about 10 per cent of the cases, no questions at all were asked. The mean cost of the treatment was $ 0.53 (95 per cent CI = 0.37–0.68). Constraints of knowledge, time and finance could be the reasons for this inappropriate management of childhood diarrhoea.
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