"Abstract:


Background: Pneumonia is a respiratory tract infection caused by bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Antibiotics are usually provided to children who are suspected of having pneumonia. Nevertheless, the link between antibiotic choice and clinical outcomes among hospitalised children under five years of age with pneumonia at Haydom Lutheran Hospital (HLH) has not been well studied. The lack of this information limits efforts to come up with implementable treatment guidelines for pneumonia in children under five years of age based on local evidence.

Methodology: the study was retrospective cross-sectional conducted at HLH.The study sample was medical files of under five years of age children with pneumonia admitted at HLH for the past two years of which every month, eleven medical files were chosen to check for diagnosis, and the prescribed antibiotic.

Results: The study included a total of 264 medical files of children less than five years age diagnosed with pneumonia. Of these, 131(49.6%) were female and 133(50.4%) were male. Majority of children were given combination therapy of ampicillin and gentamicin 165 (62.5%) and others received amoxicillin 99 (37.5%). Most of children (69.7%) who were administered ampicillin and gentamicin had successful treatment while 57(30.3%) of children in the amoxicillin-treated group achieved a full recovery.

Conclusion: The results of the study demonstrated that the combination of ampicillin and gentamicin was more effective in achieving treatment success than amoxicillin in which 69.7% of children treated with ampicillin and gentamicin recovered while 30.3% of those treated with amoxicillin experienced successful treatment."