Analysing policy interventions to prohibit over‐the‐counter antibiotic sales in four Latin American countries (original) (raw)

2013, Tropical Medicine & International Health

ObjectivesTo describe and evaluate policies implemented in Chile, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico (1995–2009) to prohibit antibiotic OTC sales and explore limitations in available data.MethodsWe searched and analysed legislation, grey literature and peer‐reviewed publications on regulatory interventions and implementation strategies to enforce prohibition of OTC antibiotic sales. We also assessed the impact using private sector retail sales data of antibiotics studying changes in level and consumption trends before and after the policy change using segmented time series analysis. Finally, we assessed the completeness and data quality through an established checklist to test the suitability of the data for analysis of the interventions.ResultsWhereas Chile implemented a comprehensive package of interventions to accompany regulation changes, Colombia's reform was limited to the capital district and Venezuela's limited to only some antibiotics and without awareness campaigns. In...

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