Teressa Andrea Esteves, Gabriel Jay Atabay, Elizabeth Yu Tan
Developing countries are more vulnerable to antibiotic resistance and pose the greatest threat to public health globally than developed countries due to complex issues about the nature of their healthcare system as well as other patient-related factors. Inappropriate antibiotic drug use and their unrestricted availability in community pharmacies and other retail establishments can contribute to this issue. The research provides a review of scholarly literature to identify what possible determinants could contribute to inappropriate antibiotic dispensing practices. Most studies in this review have indicated that lack of knowledge among community pharmacists and lax law enforcement, from intrinsic and extrinsic factors, respectively, were the most frequent aspects associated with antibiotic dispensing with no prescription; thus, measures to be taken to counteract or reduce these determinants should be considered. In this case, intervention should be made locally, along with coordination among health authorities and other healthcare providers. © 2023 Teressa Andrea Esteves et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Department of Pharmacy, University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines
