A national, multicentre web-based point prevalence survey of antimicrobial use and quality indices among hospitalised paediatric patients across South Africa

Data on antimicrobial consumption among the paediatric population in public hospitals in South Africa is limited. These needs to be addressed to improve future use and reduce antimicrobial resistance rates. Consequently, the objective is to quantify antimicrobial usage;and identify and classify which antimicrobials are used in the peadiatric population in public sector hospitals in South Africa according to World Health Organiosation (WHO) AWaRe list of antimicrobials METHODS: Conduct a point prevalence survey among 18 public sector hospitals from nine provinces using a newly developed web-based application. The data will be analysed according to the WHO AwaRe list to guide future quality improvement programmes. 1261 paediatric patient files were reviewed with 49.7% (627/1261) receiving at least one antimicrobial, with 1013 antimicrobials prescribed overall. The top five antimicrobials included ampicillin (16.4%), gentamycin (10.0%), amoxicillin and enzyme inhibitor (9.6%), ceftriaxone (7.4%), and amikacin (6.3%). Antimicrobials from the Access classification were the most used (55.9%) with 3.1% being from the Reserve classification. The most common infectious conditions were pneumonia (21.3%; 148/1013) and clinical sepsis (16.0%; 111/1013). Parenteral administration (75.6%) and prolonged surgical prophylaxis (66.7%; 10/15) were common and concerns. 28% of the paediatric patients had cultures requested for them before antimicrobial treatment (284/1013) however only 38.7% (110/284) of culture results were available in the files. Overall, antimicrobial prescribing is common among paediatric patients in South Africa. Interventions should be targeted at improving antimicrobial prescribing, including surgical prophylaxis, and encouraging greater use of oral antibiotics