IBT Singapore: Children from lower and middle-income countries are on excessive antibiotics, says study
“At a time when concerns about increasing antibiotic resistance across the world are on the rise, a new study claims that children in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are receiving excessive antibiotic prescriptions, which could exacerbate the problem. The study published by researchers from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) and Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health says that children from LMICs — within the first five years of their lives — receive 25 antibiotic prescriptions on an average. This can adversely affect the ability of their immune systems to combat disease-causing pathogens and increase resistance to antibiotics…” (Biswas, 12/16).

PTI/The Week: Over-prescription of antibiotics puts children in poor countries at risk, says Lancet study
“…In the first-of-its-kind study, published in the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases, the researchers looked at the total antibiotic prescription given for children under the age of five in eight LMICs—including Nepal, Namibia, Kenya, and Haiti. … Citing a prior study for comparison, they said, children under five in Europe receive less than one antibiotic prescription per year on average. ‘This number is still high given that the vast majority of infections in this age group are of viral origin,’ said Valerie D’Acremont, a study co-author from the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Switzerland…” (12/16).