Abstract:

Background: Antibacterial agents have long been of sole important in the fight against common bacterial infections. The increasingly rising antimicrobial resistance poses a threat to the fight against bacterial infections. Despite the various initiatives taken to combat this, close monitoring in prescription and consumption of antibacterial agents if of paramount importance. In low and middle-income countries, the level of reporting and quantification of consumption is still low. This study to quantify consumption of antibacterial agents per DDD/100 bed days and depict seasonal variation in consumption.

Methodology: Hospital based retrospective cross-sectional conducted among admitted in internal medicine wards at Sekou Toure Regional Referral Hospital. Mwanza Tanzania from October 2019 to September 2020. All available files within the study duration were collected.

Results: A total of 367 patients files were enrolled, 72.6% of patients were prescribed with antibacterial agents with an average of 1.3 prescriptions per patients. Injections constituted 76.9% of the prescriptions while only 0.8% of the prescriptions had sensitivity testing. A total of 44.9 defined daily dose (DDD) per 100 bed days was recorded with ceftriaxone the highest with 20.68 DDD/100 bed days. High consumption in dry month and low in wet month was observed.

Conclusion: There is high consumption of antibacterial agent among internal medicine wards at Sekou Toure Regional Referral Hospital which needs review to point out the factors contributing. High consumption in dry season as compared to wet season was observed.