Science Journal of Clinical Medicine 2014; 3(3): 46-51 Published online June 20, 2014 (http://www.sciencepublishinggroup.com/j/sjcm) doi: 10.11648/j.sjcm.20140303.14 Retrospective assessment of irrational use of antibiotics to children attending in Mekelle general hospital Girum Sebsibie 1 , Teklemariam Gultie 2, * 1 Department of Medicine, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2 College of Medicine and Health Science, Arba Minch University, Arba Minch, Ethiopia Email address: girtirped@yahoo.com (G. Sebsibie), tekledb2002@gmail.com (T. Gultie) To cite this article: Girum Sebsibie, Teklemariam Gultie. Retrospective Assessment of Irrational use of Antibiotics to Children Attending in Mekelle General Hospital. Science Journal of Clinical Medicine. Vol. 3, No. 3, 2014, pp. 46-51. doi: 10.11648/j.sjcm.20140303.14 Abstract: Background: In the last decades, there has been an escalating consumption of antibiotics with the number of antibiotic prescriptions increasing worldwide. Since children are more vulnerable to infectious disease than adults, more antibiotics are prescribed for them. Inappropriate use of antibiotics has resulted in a major increase in the development of multi-drug resistant pathogens with great implication in terms of morbidity, mortality and costs. The objective of this study was to determine the irrational use of antibiotics prescribed for children under the age of 15 years in Mekelle general hospital. Methods: A retrospective cross sectional study was conducted. Four hundred three children ’ s prescriptions and corresponding cards which were recorded by the year 2012 were selected by systematic random sampling proportionally from each month in the year. Results: Of all antibiotic prescriptions reviewed, the numbers of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions were 222 (55.1%) while inpatient prescriptions were 181 (44.9%).The predefined antibiotics indicators like percentage of antibiotics prescribed, frequency of route of administration, antibiotics prescribed from Standard treatment guideline, proportion of antibiotics, cost of antibiotics per antibiotics days, incidence and antibiotics utilization ratio were determined and 141(35.1%) were treated with different antibiotics irrationally. Conclusion: The finding of this study indicated that antibiotics were prescribed irrationally. Prescriptions containing one or more antibiotics constituted 73.68% of all prescriptions and around 5.9% of encounters were treated without any diagnosis. T he study has revealed that third generation cephalosporin (ceftriaxone) has been highly prescribed in the study hospital. Keywords: Antibiotics, Children, Cross sectional, Irrational, Mekelle, Retrospective 1. Introduction The discovery of antibiotics has brought about a dramatic turning point in the treatment of infectious disease in the 20 th century [1]. In the last decades there has been an increase in consumption of antibiotics with the number of antibiotic prescriptions increasing worldwide, although recently, some stabilization or decrease in this trend is evident in some countries [2]. More than 50% of all medicine worldwide are prescribed, dispensed, or sold inappropriately and not in the principle of rational drug use. More than 50% of patient fails to take them correctly. This inappropriate dose results in increasing morbidity and mortality particularly for childhood infectious disease and chronic disease [3]. Various studies conducted in developed as well as developing countries regarding the safe and effective use of antibiotics showed that, irrational antibiotics use is a global problem and about 75% of antibiotics are prescribed inappropriately [4]. The increased and inappropriate consumption of antibiotics has been related to the development of microbial resistance to many agents. Increased levels of microbial resistance are a global concern and some countries have implemented strategies to decrease unnecessary antibiotic prescription. Since 1993 World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with international network for rational use of drug introduce asset of indicators called “drug use indicators” which includes prescribing indicators, patient care indicators and facility indicators [5]. WHO also recommends different strategies to decrease inappropriate antibiotics prescription and for the containment of antimicrobial resistance. A quarter of world’s population is concentrated in developing countries and has access only to small proportion of world’s drug product [6]. Health budget in these country are generally small when compared to the