Generating Collective Solutions to Reduce Unnecessary Antibiotic Use in Vietnam

The study aims to develop community-based interventions targetting inappropriate antibiotic dispensing and use behaviours in rural Vietnam and has 3 research components.

Community and primary healthcare interventions: The investigators will conduct a four-armed cluster randomised controlled trial. The first arm will be a control arm with no interventions. The second intervention arm will have a basic antimicrobial stewardship intervention, involving working with the Ministry of Health, Medical Services Administration to revise guidelines for antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections (ARI) in primary care, and then training primary healthcare doctors in their use. The third intervention arm will have basic antimicrobial stewardship guidelines and training for primary healthcare doctors, plus educational materials for the community, disseminated through posters, leaflets and local media channels. The fourth intervention arm will use a participatory action research approach to engage primary healthcare doctors and communities, in addition to the basic guidelines and training materials. The participatory action research approach will train local facilitators to lead community and health-worker groups through a cycle of problem identification, strategy development, implementation and review, focusing on inappropriate human and small-scale agricultural use of antibiotics.

Hospital interventions: The investigators will work with Provincial and District Hospitals serving these communities to implement quality improvement cycles for antibiotic stewardship, also using a participatory action research approach. This will also follow a cycle of a cycle of problem identification, strategy development, implementation and review.