Overuse of antibiotics in maternity and neonatal wards, a descriptive report from public hospitals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Overuse of antibiotics is a major challenge and undermines measures to control drug resistance worldwide. Postnatal women and newborns are at risk of infections and are often prescribed prophylactic antibiotics although there is no evidence to support their universal use in either group.

We observed substantial overuse of antibiotics in postnatal women and newborns. This calls for urgent antibiotic stewardship programs in Tanzanian hospitals to curb this inappropriate use and limit the spread of antimicrobial resistance.