Purchase and use of antimicrobials in the hospital sector of Vietnam, a lower middle-income country with an emerging pharmaceuticals market.

Introduction: Antimicrobial use is associated with emergence of antimicrobial resistance. We report hospital antimicrobial procurement, as a surrogate for consumption in humans, expenditure and prices in public hospitals in Vietnam, a lower middle-income country with a high burden of drug resistant infections.

Method: Data on antimicrobial procurement were obtained from tender-winning bids from provincial health authorities and public hospitals with detailed bids representing 28.