Understanding antimicrobial use in subsistence farmers in Chikwawa District Malawi, implications for public awareness campaigns.

Drug resistant infections are increasing across the world and urgent action is required to preserve current classes of antibiotics. Antibiotic use practices in low-and-middle-income countries have gained international attention, especially as antibiotics are often accessed beyond the formal health system. Public awareness campaigns have gained popularity, often conceptualising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a problem of excess, precipitated by irrational behaviour.

Understanding antimicrobial resistance through the lens of antibiotic vulnerabilities in primary health care in rural Malawi.

The diminishing effectiveness of antimicrobials raises serious concerns for human health. While policy makers grapple to reduce the overuse of antimicrobial medicines to stem the rise of antimicrobial resistance, insufficient attention has been paid to how this applies to low-resource contexts. We provide an in-depth portrayal of antimicrobial prescribing at primary health care level in rural Chikwawa District, Malawi.

Antibiotic stories: a mixed-methods, multi-country analysis of household antibiotic use in Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Background: As concerns about the prevalence of infections that are resistant to available antibiotics increase, attention has turned toward the use of these medicines both within and outside of formal healthcare settings. Much of what is known about use beyond formal settings is informed by survey-based research. Few studies to date have used comparative, mixed-methods approaches to render visible patterns of use within and between settings as well as wider points of context shaping these patterns.

Optimizing Test and Treat in Malawi: health care worker perspectives on barriers and facilitators to ART initiation among HIV-infected clients who feel healthy.

: Test and Treat has been widely adopted throughout sub-Saharan Africa, whereby all HIV-positive individuals initiate antiretroviral therapy (ART) immediately upon diagnosis and continue for life. However, clients who feel healthy may delay ART initiation, despite being eligible under new treatment guidelines.: We examined health care worker (HCW) perceptions and experiences on how feeling healthy positively or negatively influences treatment initiation among HIV-positive clients in Malawi.