Drug Use Practices at Paediatric Hospitals of Khartoum State, Sudan

Rational drug use has been defined as the use in which "patients receive medications appropriate to their clinical needs, in doses that meet their individual requirements, for an adequate period of time and at the lowest cost to them and their community." It is a crucial part of any national health policy, particularly since more than 50% of national and 60-80% of individual healthcare spending in developing countries goes toward medicines. Studies from developing countries showed that as much as a third of drug prescriptions, accounting for 20 to 50% of drug costs, are irrational and that antimicrobials are among the most frequently prescribed medications.Such practices may lead to suboptimal clinical outcomes and higher cost to the scarce health expenditure. The results of this study revealed different aspects of irrational prescribing and dispensing practices at paediatric hospitals in Khartoum State, Sudan. On the top of them the substantial overuse of antibiotics, which was found to be the highest among all studies that investigated this indicator worldwide.