Goal
To enter???
Lead
Zikria Saleem at Qassim University and Daniele Dona at University of Padua
Funder
The Wellcome Trust
What we did
This study evaluates first-line antibiotic recommendations in paediatric outpatient Standard Treatment Guidelines (STGs) from 80 countries, comparing them with WHO AWaRe Book guidelines and assessing their alignment with the paediatric Essential Medicines List for Children (EMLc) and National Essential Medicines Lists (NEMLs). The study covers ten infections managed in primary care settings and analyses the distribution of recommended antibiotics and AWaRe classifications.
Key learnings
Results show strong concordance with WHO recommendations in most regions, with over 50% of first-line treatments being Access antibiotics. More than 80% of first-line antibiotics were included in the EMLc and NEMLs, though some high-income countries lacked NEMLs. The study concludes that implementing current national STGs will support the achievement of the UNGA 70% Access target, emphasising the importance of Access antibiotics in paediatric care.