Blood culture versus antibiotic use for neonatal inpatients in 61 hospitals implementing with the NEST360 Alliance in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania: a cross-sectional study

Thirty million small and sick newborns worldwide require inpatient care each year. Many receive antibiotics for clinically diagnosed infections without blood cultures, the current ‘gold standard’ for neonatal infection detection. Low neonatal blood culture use hampers appropriate antibiotic use, fuelling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which threatens newborn survival. This study analysed the gap between blood culture use and antibiotic prescribing in hospitals implementing with Newborn Essential Solutions and Technologies (NEST360) in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania.

Type

Journal article

Citation

Murless-Collins, S., Kawaza, K., Salim, N., Molyneux, E. M., Chiume, M., Aluvaala, J., Macharia, W. M., Ezeaka, V. C., Odedere, O., Shamba, D., Tillya, R., Penzias, R. E., Ezenwa, B. N., Ohuma, E. O., Cross, J. H., Lawn, J. E., Bokea, H., Bohne, C., Waiyego, M., … the NEST360 Infection Group. (2023). Blood culture versus antibiotic use for neonatal inpatients in 61 hospitals implementing with the NEST360 Alliance in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania: A cross-sectional study. BMC Pediatrics, 23(2), 568. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-023-04343-0

Published Version

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-023-04343-0

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