Abstract:
Background Rational medicine use improves patient and community health; however, irrational medicine use persists despite official efforts to reduce it. This study used WHO indicators to evaluate medicine use, with a focus on antibiotics, at twenty primary healthcare centers in Bujumbura Mairie, Burundi
Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study assessed 20 Bujumbura Mairie PHCs. The formula k= (population size/sample size) was used to select 100 encounters per PHC at regular intervals. RANDBETWEEN Excel was used to randomly select the first encounter and PHC.
Results 2000 prescriptions from outpatient encounters were subjected to analysis. The results indicated that 50.5% of encounters were female, while 49.5% were male. This study revealed that the average prescription drug per each visit was 2.4, the rate of prescription drug by generic name was 76.6%, the proportion of encounters whith an antibiotic prescription was 57.7%, the proportion of encounters with a prescription of injection was 13.2%, and 85.9% of drugs were prescribed from the EML. The proportion of antibiotic prescritions by generic name were at 94.4% and from EML at 94.5%. The proportion of surveyed PHCs that held a copy of the EML was 50%, and the availability of key medicines was 85%, while the STGs were unavailable. In bivariate and multivariable models, antibiotic prescribing was significantly associated with patients aged under 5, the range of 3 to 4 drugs prescription, the generic drug number, the EML drug number, and the percentage of key medicines availability.
Conclusion This study's findings of irrational drug use and overuse of antibiotics, highlight the critical need for implementing interventions to promote rational use of drugs and increase awareness of proper antibiotic use
