Congratulations to Dr. Samuel on this important academic milestone!
Title: Contextual determinants of antibiotic access and use at the community level in Ghana: building a trajectory from research to policy
Brief summary: Antimicrobial resistance is growing at an alarming rate and has been identified by WHO as one of the top 10 threats to global health. AMR is more serious in low and middle income countries (LMIC) because of inappropriate antibiotic use. This study revealed that inappropriate antibiotic use is high in rural communities in central Ghana. Antibiotics are obtained without prescription because of contextual factors such as perceived benefits of antibiotics, delays in receiving treatment in health facilities, financial constraints, and long distance to health facilities. Other determinants of inappropriate antibiotic use include dispensing of antibiotics by medicine sellers for financial gains, weak enforcement of pharmaceutical regulations, lack of knowledge on antibiotics, and identification of antibiotics with colours which appears confusing. Findings from this study provides evidence that could inform the design of interventions to improve antibiotic use in rural settings in Ghana and LMIC.
Full thesis accessible here.
Biography: Samuel Afari-Asiedu is a Research Fellow and Medical Sociologist at the Kintampo Health Research Centre, Research and Development Division of Ghana Health Service. In 2015, he obtained a Master of Philosophy degree in Sociology from the University of Ghana. Samuel started his PhD research on community antibiotic access and used at the Radboud University Medical Center in 2018 and defended his thesis on 7 July, 2022.
ABACUS project 
Congratulations to Dr. Afari-Asiedu!