ArticleBMJ global health2021
Antibiotic stories: a mixed-methods, multi-country analysis of household antibiotic use in Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Article in BMJ global health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 49 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessing the implementation determinants of antimicrobial stewardship programmes in sub-Saharan Africa through the complexity lens. A CFIR-guided systematic review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on antibiotic consumption: A systematic review comparing 2019 and 2020 data.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Antibiotic use in Türkiye: Everyday encounters of translating policy and negotiating rationality.Medical anthropology quarterly · 2026Article
- Antibiotic dispensing practices and determinants among informal healthcare providers in low- and middle-income countries: a mixed-methods scoping review.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Antimicrobial redistribution: health practitioner One health perspectives on antimicrobial use in livestock for antimicrobial resistance education in Zimbabwe.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2026Article
- Community health volunteers as a frontline platform for antimicrobial resistance mitigation in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Comparison of antimicrobial resistance genes on the ocular surface of patients with corneal infections in California and Malawi.International health · 2025Article
- Antimicrobial resistance, equity and justice in low- and middle-income countries: an intersectional critical interpretive synthesis.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Environmental hazards from pollution of antibiotics and resistance-driving chemicals in an urban river network from Malawi.npj antimicrobials and resistance · 2025Article
- Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Iraqi Parents Regarding Antibiotic Use in Children and the Implications.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Effect of tropical climates on the quality of commonly used antibiotics: the protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Integrating traditional medicine into antimicrobial resistance education: Community-centric preparedness in Zimbabwe.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Barriers and pathways to environmental surveillance of antibiotic resistance in middle- and low-income settings: a qualitative exploratory key expert study.Global health action · 2024Article
- Gender and equity considerations in AMR research: a systematic scoping review.Monash bioethics review · 2024Article
- Stewardship and social justice: implications of using the precautionary principle to justify burdensome antimicrobial stewardship measures.Monash bioethics review · 2024Article
- Influences on use of antibiotics without prescription by the public in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review and synthesis of qualitative evidence.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2024Review
- Exploring drivers of self-treatment with antibiotics in three agricultural communities of northern Tanzania.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2024Article
- The metabolic, virulence and antimicrobial resistance profiles of colonising Streptococcus pneumoniae shift after PCV13 introduction in urban Malawi.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Antimicrobial stewardship in private pharmacies in Wakiso district, Uganda: a qualitative study.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2023Article
- RETRACTED: Empowering Low- and Middle-Income Countries to Combat AMR by Minimal Use of Antibiotics: A Way Forward.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
20 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAs concerns about the prevalence of infections that are resistant to available antibiotics increase, attention has turned toward the use of these medicines both within and outside of formal healthcare settings. Much of what is known about use beyond formal settings is informed by survey-based research. Few studies to date have used comparative, mixed-methods approaches to render visible patterns of use within and between settings as well as wider points of context shaping these patterns.
designThis article analyses findings from mixed-methods anthropological studies of antibiotic use in a range of rural and urban settings in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Uganda between 2018 and 2020. All used a 'drug bag' survey tool to capture the frequency and types of antibiotics used among 1811 households. We then undertook observations and interviews in residential settings, with health providers and key stakeholders to better understand the stories behind the most-used antibiotics.
resultsThe most self-reported 'frequently used' antibiotics across settings were amoxicillin, cotrimoxazole and metronidazole. The stories behind their use varied between settings, reflecting differences in the configuration of health systems and antibiotic supplies. At the same time, these stories reveal cross-cutting features and omissions of contemporary global health programming that shape the contours of antibiotic (over)use at national and local levels.
conclusionsOur findings challenge the predominant focus of stewardship frameworks on the practices of antibiotic end users. We suggest future interventions could consider systems-rather than individuals-as stewards of antibiotics, reducing the need to rely on these medicines to fix other issues of inequity, productivity and security.
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Registered trials
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