Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness week marked in Kabul amid rise in sale of non-prescribed drugs
Nov 24, 2023
Kabul [Afghanistan], November 24 : The Afghanistan Food and Drug Authority (AFDA) said that they are trying to prevent the citizens of the country from using antibiotics on their own, TOLOnews reported.
This comes after the country has witnessed the overuse of medications recently, particularly antibiotics.
According to a lot of specialists, the unprescribed use of drugs, particularly antibiotics, can result in the death of infants. The sale of non-prescription drugs, particularly antibiotics, is also creating problems for pharmacists in the country.
Notably, World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week takes place during the third week of November.
Amid the rise in the sale of non-prescribed drugs, a case surfaced in which seven-month-old Mohammad was admitted to the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul for four days due to diarrhoea, and his mother said that she brought him from Bamiyan for treatment and in the first days of his illness, she gave him a dose of antibiotics, according to TOLOnews.
"We took medicine from each of them twice, but it didn't work. I brought my child to Bamiyan, but when it didn't work there either, I brought him to Kabul," said Amena, Mohammad's mother.
Meanwhile, other pharmacists reported that the sale and recommendation of over-the-counter medications and antibiotics by pharmacists have lately grown in some places.
"Clients come a lot and we don't allow them to self-prescribe. Our advice is to go to a doctor," said Omaid, a pharmacist.
"Pharmacists should not prescribe self-medication and people should not self-medication because it is very harmful," said Abdul Wasim, another pharmacist.
The AFDA also stated that they are initiating awareness campaigns to discourage the use of antibiotics and self-medication by inhabitants of the country.
Some doctors said that self-medication, particularly with antibiotics, can result in mortality, particularly among youngsters.
"First, the antibiotic is not effective; when it is not effective, the antibiotic lasts a long time and ruins the child's condition. Even this microbe resistance ... causes the death of children," said Mohammad Aref Hasan, a doctor, TOLOnews reported.
