Towards implementing an antibiotic stewardship programme (ASP) in Ecuador: evaluating antibiotic consumption and the impact of an ASP in a tertiary hospital according to World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.

Objectives: Ecuador is a lower-to-middle-income country not yet adherent to World Health Organization (WHO) antibiotic stewardship strategies, and data regarding basic metrics are still lacking.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of an antibiotic stewardship programme (ASP) consisting of restrictive measures on carbapenem dispensing pending required pre-authorisation and expert audit. We evaluated antibiotic consumption and its relationship to carbapenem resistance at a 610-bed, tertiary-level hospital in Quito, Ecuador.