Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jul;10(4):e1502.
doi: 10.1002/vms3.1502.

Understanding veterinary drug shop workers' knowledge and practices to identify drivers of antibiotic use in Vietnamese livestock farms

Sandra Nohrborg  1 , Thinh Nguyen-Thi  2 , Huyen Nguyen Xuan  3 , Yen Luu Thi Hai  3 , Johanna Lindahl  4 , Sofia Boqvist  5 , Josef D Järhult  6 , Ulf Magnusson  1
Affiliations

Understanding veterinary drug shop workers' knowledge and practices to identify drivers of antibiotic use in Vietnamese livestock farms

Sandra Nohrborg et al. Vet Med Sci. 2024 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a One Health issue and a major threat to animal and human health. Antibiotic use (ABU) drives AMR development, and several hotspots for ABU, and AMR, in livestock have been identified in Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. There are often multiple drivers of ABU at farms, and to identify all of them there is a need to look beyond farm level.

Objectives: The overall aim of this study was to identify routines and/or competencies, related to antibiotic sales, among veterinary drug shop workers that may be improved in order to decrease the medically non-rational use of antibiotics in livestock production.

Methods: A questionnaire-based survey was conducted at 50 veterinary drug shops in northern Vietnam.

Results: Results showed high education and knowledge levels. According to the respondents, antibiotic treatment advice was almost always provided to the farmers, and the recommended treatment was most commonly based on recommendations for the specific disease. However, farmers had almost never had their animals properly diagnosed. Antibiotics were the most sold drug category, penicillins being the most common. Several broad-spectrum antibiotics were also quite frequently sold. Further, >50% of respondents recommended antibiotics for disease prevention.

Conclusions: Even though education and knowledge levels might be high, several challenges can prevent drug shop workers from contributing to more prudent ABU at farms, for example, lack of proper diagnosis, commercial interests and individual farmer motives, often in combination with poor compliance to regulations.

Keywords: Vietnam; antibiotic sales; anti‐bacterial agents; drug resistance; livestock; veterinary pharmacy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Map of the continent of Asia (left) with Vietnam marked in green, and map of Vietnam (right) with the province Thai Nguyen marked in red. Yellow marks the capital province of Hanoi for reference. Source: https://mapchart.net, retrieved 18 January 2024, license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by‐sa/4.0/.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators . (2022). Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: A systematic analysis. Lancet, 399(10325), 629–655. 10.1016/s0140-6736(21)02724-0 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bengtsson, B. , & Greko, C. (2014). Antibiotic resistance—consequences for animal health, welfare, and food production. Uppsala Journal of Medical Sciences, 119(2), 96–102. 10.3109/03009734.2014.901445 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Carrique‐Mas, J. J. , Trung, N. V. , Hoa, N. T. , Mai, H. H. , Thanh, T. H. , Campbell, J. I. , Wagenaar, J. A. , Hardon, A. , Hieu, T. Q. , & Schultsz, C. (2015). Antimicrobial usage in chicken production in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Zoonoses and Public Health, 62(Suppl. 1), 70–78. 10.1111/zph.12165 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chea, B. , Kong, S. , Thim, S. , Ban, N. , Chrun, R. , Venn, V. , Fernandez‐Colorado, C. , & Kang, K. (2023). Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of antimicrobial use and resistance among village animal health workers and veterinary drug retailers in Cambodia. Open Journal of Animal Sciences, 13, 98–113. 10.4236/ojas.2023.131007 - DOI
    1. Circular no. 12/2020/TT‐BNNPTNT dated November 09, 2020 on providing for management of veterinary drugs containing narcotic substances and precursors; veterinary prescribing; amendments to circular no. 18/2018/TT‐BNNPTNT. Chapter 3. Retrieved April 22, 2024, from https://faolex.fao.org/docs/pdf/vie211547.pdf

Publication types