Community pharmacists’ role as antibiotic stewards in the fight against coronavirus disease 2019
University of Zambia, School of Health Sciences, Department of Pharmacy, P.O Box 50110, Lusaka, Zambia.
Review Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2020, 08(01), 001-005
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjarr.2020.8.1.0312
Publication history:
Received on 19 August 2020; revised on 19 September 2020; accepted on 21 September 2020
Abstract:
Antibiotic misuse and overuse are key drivers of antimicrobial resistance. One common practice that leads to antibiotic misuse is self-medication. Antibiotics have been misused for viral respiratory tract conditions such as cold and flu. The misuse of antibiotics could extend to mild infections of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), further driving up antimicrobial resistance. COVID-19 emerged a global health problem that originated from Wuhan City in Hubei province of China. Community pharmacists, due to their constant and direct contact with patients, can implement several measures that can drive down the misuse of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic. This article highlights the roles of community pharmacists as antimicrobial stewards that should not be neglected during and after the pandemic.
Keywords:
Antimicrobial resistance; Community pharmacists; Coronavirus disease 2019; COVID-19; Pandemic; Self-medication
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Copyright © 2020 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0