Antibiotic resistance, the risk facing a poor community in Africa

In Kibera, a community of Nairobi with mudflats and huts, outdoor latrines and bags with stools on the roofs of houses, 90% of its inhabitants have used antibiotics in the last year. A huge figure compared to 17% of an American family.

However, this accessibility and high consumption have had a negative effect on members of this community in Kenya (East Africa): creates resistance to antibiotics.

Right here you do not need a prescription to get them and pharmacists, without a university degree, sell them out of control.

For $ 15, you can get generic antibiotics, produced on a large scale in China and India.

According to a report by The New York Times, one of the easily accessible drugs in this city is the amoxicillin, used to treat a wide range of infections, such as pneumonia, chlamydia or salmonella, to Lyme disease.

The risk is not low for the people of Kibera. Medications lose their ability to destroy germs found in cbads, hospitals, corrals.

Until now, the problem of antibiotic resistance was considered a major problem. the problem of developed countries, where people usually treat themselves at the slightest sign of coughs or colds.

Dr. Guy H. Palmer, a researcher at the University of Washington, who studies resistance in Africa, pointed out that millions of people around the world do not have access to safe drinking water, but that this puts the whole world in danger.

Every year, 700,000 people die as a result of resistance to pathogens and in Kenya, the problem is a reality that takes life, above all, from children who still do not fully develop their immune systems.

According to Sam Kariuki of the Kenya Medical Research Institute, 70% of salmonella they no longer respond to the most usual antibiotic treatment. The Every year, the disease kills about 45,000 children in this country.

The vicious circle of the disease

To save money, many locals they prefer to buy only a few antibiotic pills and not the complete treatmentwhich makes them only more resistant to bacteria.

In addition, some antibiotics contain very little active substance, which speeds up the resistance.

In Kibera, there is a direct correlation between poor community hygiene and infections. who hide almost every house. Here, cases of typhoid fever in children are 15 times higher than those living in western Nairobi.

"The lack of sanitation causes more illnesses, which leads to increased use of antibiotics and increased resistance. It's a vicious circle, "said Marc-Alain Widdowson, deputy director of the Kenya Division of Global Health Protection for the CDC.

The Kenyan government promoted better hygiene in hospitals and also encouraged vaccination. But until now, the use of prescriptions to buy antibiotics or to stop the flow of pirated drugs has made little progress.