Antibiotics Bill Brieger | 28 Mar 2025
Vietnam: Efforts to Stop Free-Flowing Antibiotics and Resistance
We ask that the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Industry and Trade raise the fine on drug sellers from 25 USD to at least 50 USD to curb unlawful sale. There should be consequences as heavy as shutting down the business after multiple infractions. With strong penalties for operating outside of “Good Distribution Practice (GDP) requirements,” there may be a chance to slow the spread of antibiotic resistance (AR). Only when the unregulated drug supply is gone will consumers be pushed to actually use their expanded insurance to see doctors and buy antibiotics with prescription.

Image, 20 November 2023: Joint press release from World AMR Awareness Week in Hanoi, presenting Vietnam National AMR Strategy 2023-2030 with vision to 2045.
Three key stakeholders support regulation. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes the irrational use of antibiotics in Vietnam. We must involve them in planning and advocating for funding to support efforts to educate and enforce fines on unlawful sellers. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) supports Vietnam’s National AMR (antimicrobial resistance) Strategy to address antibiotic resistance. We must also involve them in planning efforts and align all sectors for comprehensive education. Corporations may support antibiotic stewardship efforts, like GlaskoSmithKline (GSK). We can collaborate with them to ensure they don’t distribute antibiotics to unlicensed sellers.
Antibiotics &Resistance Bill Brieger | 25 Aug 2022
Antibiotic Misuse: A Public Health Menace In Lagos, Nigeria
Abigail Arthur has contributed this posting to the Blog site for the JHU site for the course Social and Behavioral Foundations of Primary Health Care. Antibiotics are designed after years of research to determine which specific organisms they target, and at which doses they are effective. Hence, they must be used with strict adherence to prescription instructions to ensure maximum effectiveness. Unfortunately, there is a trend here in Lagos showing the gross misuse of antibiotics. Adapted from https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/health/antibiotic-resistance-nigeria-stares-at-a-major-catastrophe-68915 The factors driving this phenomenon range from the misconceptions and practices of individuals and their contacts to factors associated with the communities and institutions within, same as well as the policies governing both. In Lagos, much of the misuse is fostered by extremely easy access to antibiotic medications aided by poorly implemented drug regulation policies. For instance, in 2005, there were 100 times more basic drug stores (patent and proprietary medicine vendors) than licensed pharmacy shops in Nigeria. ? While the operators of these basic drug stores have very little to no pharmaceutical knowledge, they are the first point of call for medications in the community.
The effect?
The next time you use the red and black tablet(ampicillin) for a skin infection, or an upper respiratory tract infection, it may not work due to the resistance built by microbes to these abused antimicrobials. ? Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) leads make treatments dear as newer generation (and pricier!) medication is then needed. Unfortunately, AMR can also lead to fatalities.
The way forward:
Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs (AMS) instituted by the Ministry of Health was implemented across only 6 health facilities in Lagos state in 2021. ? Our focus of advocacy is to encourage policy makers to consider antimicrobial resistance as an upcoming emergency following the progressive misuse of antimicrobials in the country. We call for proper control on the sale and advertisement of antimicrobials, an improvement in the patient to prescriber ratio and a strengthening of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program already in place.