Conference Abstract | Volume 8, Abstract 20| Published: 16 Jul 2025
Chishimba Lungu1,&, Eness Nyondo1, Richard Siwila1, Charles Chungu1
1Ministry of Health, Kasama District, Zambia
&Corresponding author: Chishimba Lungu, Ministry of Health, Kasama District, Zambia, Email: lunguchishimba@gmail.com
Received: 03 Jun 2024, Accepted: 11 Aug 2024, Published: 16 Jul 2025
Keywords: Antibiotics, Quality Improvement, Quality Assurance, Kasama Zambia
©Chishimba Lungu et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Chishimba Lungu et al. Reducing irrational antibiotic use for coughs at Mulenga Hills Health Post of Kasama District, Northern Zambia. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2025;8 (Conf Proc 4):20. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO4-00020
Mulenga Hills Health Post (MHHP) in Kasama District, Zambia, identified a 70% rate of irrational antibiotic prescribing for cough management in Q4 2023, based on an analysis of 80 client records. Only 30% of these cases met the clinical criteria for antibiotic use, prompting the initiation of a Quality Improvement and Quality Assurance (QIQA) project to promote rational antibiotic use and mitigate antimicrobial resistance. The goal of the QIQA project was to reduce the rate of irrational antibiotic prescribing from 70% to below 30% by Q4 2024.
A Root Cause Analysis using a “But Why” Tree Diagram identified key issues: absence of prescribing criteria, limited clinical meetings, lack of awareness of alternative remedies, absence of standard guidelines, and unavailability of alternative cough mixtures. These were prioritized using a Prioritization Matrix. Starting January 2024, several interventions were implemented: a 5-point checklist for prescribing, monthly clinical meetings, daily patient education on alternative treatments, distribution of Standard Treatment Guidelines, and regular orders for alternative cough mixtures.
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