The many socioeconomic and behavioral factors responsible for increasing antibiotic resistance in developing countries challenge the public health community.
Antibiotics are overused, especially in the private health-care sector.
Because of the lack of well-trained health professionals, drugs are often prescribed incorrectly by health workers with little or no training. For example, tetracycline is prescribed for children, even though it harms bone and tooth development in young children. In most developing countries, antibiotics can be purchased without prescription, and so to save money, people may buy only a small quantity of antibiotics, stop using the drug before the infection has cleared, and promote drug resistance. In addition, poor public sanitation spreads resistant bacteria. Finally, developing countries often do not have the facilities to track antibiotic resistance within their borders, so health professionals do not have the information needed for effective use of antibiotics.