ArticleAntimicrobial resistance and infection control2022
Antibiotic use in children under 5 years of age in Northern Tanzania: a qualitative study exploring the experiences of the caring mothers.
Article in Antimicrobial resistance and infection control, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Disruptions to safety and adaptations experienced by parents and caregivers who administered prescribed medicines to children at home: a systematic review using a framework synthesis.Frontiers in health services · 2026Pooled it
- Should my child be given antibiotics? A systematic review of parental decision making in rural and remote locations.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2024Pooled it
- Parental Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Antibiotic Use in Children: A Cross-Sectional Study from Tbilisi, Georgia.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Antimicrobial resistance, equity and justice in low- and middle-income countries: an intersectional critical interpretive synthesis.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Urine bioassay optimisation to assess the association between antimicrobial exposure, pneumococcal carriage and antimicrobial resistance among hospitalised children in Malawi.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Social determinants of health and knowledge, attitude and practice studies on antimicrobial resistance-an evidence review and future direction.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2025Article
- 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
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAntimicrobial resistance is a serious threat to the global achievements in child health thus far. Previous studies have found high use of antibiotics in children in Northern Tanzania, but the experiences of the primary care-givers, who play a key role in accessing and administering antibiotics for the sick child, have remained largely unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to understand mothers' conceptions of antibiotic use in their children, which is of importance when forming strategies to improve antibiotic use in the community.
methodA qualitative study including eight focus group discussions with mothers of under-five children in Moshi urban and rural districts, Northern Tanzania, was performed during 2019. The discussions were recorded, transcribed verbatim, translated into English and analysed according to the phenomenographic approach.
findingsThree conceptual themes emerged during analysis; (1) conceptions of disease and antibiotics, (2) accessing treatment and (3) administering antibiotics. Antibiotics were often perceived as a universal treatment for common symptoms or diseases in children with few side-effects. Although mothers preferred to attend a healthcare facility, unforeseen costs, long waits and lack of financial support from their husbands, posed barriers for healthcare seeking. However, pharmacies were perceived as a cheap and convenient option to access previously used or prescribed antibiotics. Some mothers sought advice from a trusted neighbour regarding when to seek healthcare, thus resembling the function of the community health worker.
conclusionsTo improve antibiotic use in children under 5 years of age in Northern Tanzania, the precarious situation that women often find themselves in as they access treatment for their sick children needs to be taken into consideration. It is necessary to improve structures, including the healthcare system, socioeconomic inequalities and promoting gender equality both in the household and in the public arena to reduce misuse of antibiotics. Meanwhile, equipping community health workers to support Tanzanian women in appropriate healthcare seeking for their children, may be a feasible target for intervention.
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