Pills instead of a doctor’s visit

“Your own child has a fever, is in pain, is coughing—what should you do? Seeing a doctor would be advisable, but for parents in Kenya’s slums this is often not possible. Instead, they buy cheap antibiotics—with dangerous consequences.”

Rose Midecha does not know what to do anymore. Her little baby, Collins, has been ill for three months. Without a break. He coughs and sneezes. Midecha keeps giving him medication. “I went to the pharmacy and bought antibiotics,” says the 37-year-old. When they ran out, he was still unwell, so she got new ones for him. But they only relieve the symptoms briefly, and then Collins becomes seriously ill again. Before long, his mother will reach for the next antibiotic.

Midecha lives with her two children in the Mathare slum in Nairobi. Hygiene conditions in the poor neighborhoods are bad—there is rubbish on the streets, often also feces. Access to clean water is limited, and there are no functioning drainage systems. Added to this is the high population density. Bacteria spread easily here and cause illness. Antibiotics are often used to treat these illnesses.

A study in the Kibera low-income neighborhood in Nairobi found that between 70% and 87% of the households surveyed had taken antibiotics within a year. By comparison, a study found that in Brandenburg, antibiotics were prescribed in an average of 6.5% of households in one year.

Midecha gets the antibiotics from the local vendors around the corner. They operate out of small corrugated-metal huts with a selection of medicines. In most cases, the vendors have no pharmaceutical training—often not even a sales license. Here, antibiotics are inexpensive and easily available without a prescription. Midecha has no other option. “I would go to the hospital, but I can’t. If I get work, I have to take it,” says the single mother.

“If I spend the whole day waiting at the hospital, who will earn the money even just for my children’s porridge?” Midecha asks. In addition, the hospital visit itself costs money—and Midecha does not have it. She works as a domestic helper, earning just enough for the rent on her shack, food, and childcare. (….)

In addition to the high consumption of antibiotics in Mathare or Kibera, the medicines are often of poor quality or used incorrectly. All of this promotes resistance. “The low-income neighborhoods are a hotspot for antibiotic resistance,” says Sam Kariuki, Director of Research and Development at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). According to the researcher, bacteria are present in the environment and pass resistance on to one another. “When many antibiotics are then given—of varying quality, or even counterfeit—these neighborhoods become like an incubator for resistant bacteria.”

In Kenya, hospitals are feeling the growing problem. At Kijabe Hospital, staff have observed for more than ten years that the rate of resistant bacteria is increasing. They have developed new treatment standards and monitor resistance much more closely so that they still have effective medicines available.”

Source: https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/kenia-nairobi-antibiotikaresistenz-101.html
By Caroline Hoffmann, ARD Studio Nairobi