Inappropriate Use of Antibiotics among Children Under Five in Rural and Urban Communities of Cambodia

Abstract

Background: Inappropriate use of antibiotics is a major treat especially in low- and middle-income countries with antibiotic resistant. Cambodia with high prevalence of infectious diseases among children under five, antibiotics use in urban and rural setting has not been clearly identified. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the situation of inappropriate antibiotic use among children under five in urban and rural communities of Cambodia.Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was carried out in both urban and rural communities in Cambodia from September to November 2020 by structured questionnaire interviewed among 512 Cambodian caregivers on antibiotic use for the under 5 children.Results: Among 512 children, majority were males both in urban (55.6 %) and rural (50.3%) settings, with the median age of 29.5 (3:59) months in urban and 30.0 (3:59) months in rural. The prevalence of inappropriate use of antibiotics among children under five was 79.3% (95% CI = 75.55 to 82.60), of which it was 26.0 % in urban and 53.3% in rural. Most of the rural respondents (82.1%) use antibiotics for bacterial infection diagnosed by doctors. However, it was only 52.6% in rural areas. Similar proportion of 58.6 % in urban and 61.1 % rural used antibiotics for fewer days than prescription.Conclusions: Inappropriate use of antibiotics were found in more than 3 quarters of children under five, of which the proportion in rural areas were much higher than urban. The further investigation on factors contributing to inappropriate use of antibiotics should be conducted.