Abstract
Aims: The practice of antibiotic dispensing in community pharmacies may contribute to irrational use of antibiotics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antibiotic dispensing patterns in community pharmacies of the Eastern DRCongo.
 Methods: It is a cross-sectional study carried out at Bukavu city. The study included 1504 subjects attending community pharmacies. Thus, a total number of 40 pharmacies were selected. The sociodemographic profiles of patients and dispensers were also recorded. The pharmacological interventions were investigated in terms of antibiotics dispensed according to patient’s complaints, antibiotic dispensing with or without prescription, the substitution of antibiotics in prescriptions.
 Results: Participants attending pharmacies for antibiotic needs were in the mean age of 29.8±13 years. Most of the pharmacy workers consisted of pharmacy technicians (70%) and no trained dispensers (20%). Pharmacists represented only 10% of all dispensers in community pharmacies. We found that 67.8% of subjects purchased antibiotics without prescription. The antibiotics dispensed without prescription were either on patients’ requests (70.1%) or the suggestion of dispensers (29.9%). Only 18.4% of prescriptions were subject to substitution. The conditions for requiring antibiotic dispensing without prescriptions were respectively gastrointestinal (34%), respiratory (27%), genitourinary (25%), skin (11%) and dental (2%) infections. Conditions that were not well defined represented 1%. In cephalosporins, Cefixime was the most important drug dispensed without prescription (72.5%) whereas in penicillins, this was Amoxicillin (55.5%). Doxycycline was more dispensed in the class of cyclines (69.4%). Erythromycin (53.1%) and Azithromycin (29.4%) were more dispensed in the class of macrolides. Ciprofloxacin was the most dispensed drug in the class of quinolones (74.3%) and Metronidazole (86.8%) in the class of imidazoles.
 Conclusion: The Antibiotic dispensing practice is very critical in the community pharmacies of Bukavu city due to the lack of qualified dispensers. This may increase the antibiotic self-medication and contribute to antibiotic resistance.
Highlights
Antibiotics have played a crucial role in reducing mortality rate due to bacterial infections in the world
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the financial support of World Health Organization (WHO), has adopted a strategic action plan 2018-2022 to combat an emergence of antimicrobial resistance [9]
This study aimed to evaluate the extent of antibiotic dispensing in community pharmacy settings of Bukavu city
Summary
Antibiotics have played a crucial role in reducing mortality rate due to bacterial infections in the world. The world is facing with a life-threatening multidrugresistance, in low and middle income countries (LMIC) [2,3]. It is estimated at about 700, 000 deaths annually due to an antimicrobial resistance and if no action is taken, the number is expected to increase more than tenfold by 2050 [4,5]. Resistance to current drug therapies is emerging rapidly, there are few new antibiotics in development against resistant bacteria [6,7]. Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with the financial support of WHO, has adopted a strategic action plan 2018-2022 to combat an emergence of antimicrobial resistance [9]
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