Researchers analyzing the sales of oral antibiotics for children in 70 high- and middle-income countries found that consumption varies widely from country to country with little correlation between countries’ wealth and the types of antibiotics. Of concern is the relatively low-level use of amoxicillin, an antibiotic to treat the most common childhood infections. In addition, the review found the sale of antibiotics which should only be used for specific indications, or ‘Watch’ antibiotics in a quarter of all countries accounted for 20% of total antibiotic consumption. This is of concern since there is a higher risk of bacteria developing resistance to ‘Watch’ antibiotics.
