Gbemisola Allwell-Brown defends her PhD work
On May 19th, our Ph.D. student Gbemisola Allwell-Brown became a doctor after the defense of her thesis on antibiotic use among children in low and middle-income countries, where she studied global trends and contextual determinants of antibiotic prescription in Uganda.
The current rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) especially affects the low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Although there are several drivers of AMR, antibiotic use is an important and modifiable one, making antibiotic use optimization a key priority. Additionally, in low-resource settings, promoting access to the right treatment and proper antibiotics is equally important as reducing excess and inappropriate use of antibiotics.
In this context, the first part of Gbemisola’s thesis focused on analyzing antibiotic use trends across 73 LMICs, both by WHO region and by user characteristics. In the second part, she looked into the contextual determinants of antibiotic prescription, shining a light on the prescribing patterns, determinants for prescribing, and the healthcare providers’ considerations for prescription in febrile patients. All this work was done looking at antibiotic use in children under five years old, as it is an very relevant group of antibiotic users.
(Image removed) Gbemisola and Prof. Mike English during the in depth examination of the thesis.
The results show that there has been an increase in antibiotic use for sick children under five from 2005 to 2017 and that this use is proportional to wealth at the national, regional, and household levels. This result confirms that there are persistent inequalities between and within LMICs. The contextual analysis determined that the poorest generally rely on free antibiotics that are not always available, but at the same time, there are instances of over-prescription and inappropriate prescription.
(Image removed) Dr. Allwell-Brown celebrating the successful defense with her supervisors, opponent and examining commitee.
From the UAC we congratulate now-doctor Gbemisola Allwell-Brown for her great work during her thesis and look forward to her next steps.
Want to learn more about Gbemisola's work? Check out these links:
- Dr. Allwell-Brown's published PhD thesis:Antibiotic use among children in low- and middle-income countries: Studies on global trends, and contextual determinants of antibiotic prescribing in Eastern Uganda.
- Trends in reported antibiotic use among children under 5 years of age with fever, diarrhoea, or cough with fast or difficult breathing across low-income and middle-income countries in 2005-17: a systematic analysis of 132 national surveys from 73 countries. Allwell-Brown, B., Hussain-Alkhateeb, L., et. al. 2020. The Lacet Global Health.
Determinants of trends in reported antibiotic use among sick children under five years of age across low-income and middle-income countries in 2005–17: A systematic analysis of user characteristics based on 132 national surveys from 73 countries. Allwell-Brown, B., Hussain-Alkhateeb, L., et. al. 2021. International Journal of Infectious Diseases.