{"id":101712,"date":"2025-11-03T08:36:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T08:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=101712"},"modified":"2025-11-03T08:36:38","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T08:36:38","slug":"how-self-medication-is-fueling-a-deadly-wave-of-antibiotic-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=101712","title":{"rendered":"How self-medication is fueling a deadly wave of antibiotic resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>12 Minute, 31 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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At a small chemist in Dansoman, 34-year-old Ama Mensah thought she had found a quick fix.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each time the burning pain of a urinary tract infection returned, she walked into the shop, described her symptoms, and left with a handful of antibiotics. Sometimes it was ciprofloxacin, other times amoxicillin, sold in broken blister packs because that\u2019s all she could afford.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The relief always came quickly, until one day it didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ended up at Korle-Bu,\u201d she recalls softly. \u201cThe doctors told me the bacteria in my body had become resistant. What I thought was saving me money had actually made me sicker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ama\u2019s story is a warning echoing across Ghana. From bus terminals in Madina to market stalls in Kumasi, antibiotics are being misused and abused.\u00a0<\/p>\n

People buy them without prescriptions, take incomplete doses, or share leftovers with family and friends.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, the consequences are spilling into hospitals, where doctors face a growing wave of infections that no longer respond to standard treatments.<\/p>\n

The hidden threat behind everyday pills<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Across Ghana, antibiotics have become as common as paracetamol.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From treating coughs,\u00a0 sore throats, to skin infections, diarrhoea, and some sexually transmitted infections,\u00a0 many people view them as cure-all medicines easily bought at any corner pharmacy or from hawkers shouting drug names in traffic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet beneath this convenience lies a growing threat that public health experts call one of the greatest global dangers of our time: antimicrobial resistance (AMR).<\/p>\n

Antibiotic resistance occurs when bacteria evolve to survive drugs meant to kill them. Each time an antibiotic is misused, taken for the wrong illness, at the wrong dose, or stopped too soon, the surviving bacteria learn to adapt. Over time, the medicines that once cured simple infections lose their power.<\/p>\n

In Ghana, this problem has quietly reached alarming levels.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A 2022 study by the Ghana Health Service found that more than half of common bacterial infections no longer respond to first-line antibiotics. Drugs like tetracycline, amoxicillin, and penicillin \u2014 once considered reliable \u2014 are failing in hospitals from Accra to Tamale.<\/p>\n

\u201cResistance levels are very high, especially for infections like typhoid, tuberculosis, and urinary tract infections,\u201d says Dr Jonathan Caleb Akuaku, a medical officer in Accra.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn some cases, 70 to 80 per cent of bacteria we test are resistant to the drugs we have. That means treatment options are running out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Globally, the World Health Organisation warns that by 2050, drug-resistant infections could cause 10 million deaths every year if current trends continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in countries like Ghana, where antibiotics are freely sold without prescriptions, the danger is even greater.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Weak enforcement, economic hardship, and limited access to healthcare make self-medication a daily reality for millions, turning pharmacies and trotro bus stations into the frontlines of a slow, invisible war against bacteria.<\/p>\n

The Drivers of Resistance \u2014 The Culture of Self-Medication<\/strong><\/h3>\n

One sunny afternoon,\u00a0 in Madina, 29-year-old Faustina Amankwah remembers juggling her crying child and a bag of medicines she had bought from a \u201ctrotro\u201d hawker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her five-year-old son, Kwame, had been coughing for days, and the nearest hospital was miles away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe woman selling the drugs told me the syrup works fast for children,\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes I bought Augmentin or other antibiotics. I didn\u2019t think it was dangerous \u2014 I just wanted my child to get well quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

But over time, the quick fixes stopped working. When Kwame\u2019s fever and chest infection worsened, Faustina finally took him to the Ridge Hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There, doctors confirmed what she never imagined: the bacteria in his body had become resistant to the very medicines she had trusted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so hurt,\u201d she says quietly. \u201cI thought I was helping him, but I was making him weaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her story reflects a nationwide habit rooted in accessibility and cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Across Ghana, pharmacies, chemical shops, and street vendors sell antibiotics freely often without prescriptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many Ghanaians bypass doctors altogether, driven by poverty, distance, and a belief that antibiotics can cure almost anything.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jonathan Caleb Akuaku explains that self-medication has become \u201calmost cultural.\u201d In communities, people recommend antibiotics to one another the same way they share home remedies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone feels feverish, and a friend says, \u2018Oh, take amoxicillin \u2014 it worked for me last time.\u2019 That\u2019s how resistance spreads. Each misuse gives bacteria a chance to adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem, he adds, is compounded by weak diagnostic systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In many health facilities, lab equipment is broken or outdated, forcing doctors to prescribe antibiotics \u201cblindly,\u201d hoping one will work. In this environment, trial-and-error prescribing meets unregulated drug sales \u2014 a dangerous mix that accelerates resistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven doctors contribute unintentionally,\u201d Dr Akuaku admits. \u201cWhen you don\u2019t have proper lab results, you experiment. But in the community, people do the same thing without any knowledge at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind these habits lies a deeper social issue: trust and convenience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Patients often find hospitals overcrowded, consultations slow, and medicine costs high. Medication vendors, by contrast, offer quick service, sympathy, and flexibility, selling just a few tablets for as little as five cedis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But every shortcut taken in the name of saving time or money chips away at the effectiveness of life-saving drugs.<\/p>\n

The Expert Lens \u2014 Voices from the Frontlines<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Doctors are fighting battles they used to win easily. Infections once treated with a single round of antibiotics now require stronger combinations, longer hospital stays, and far higher costs.<\/p>\n

According to Dr Akuaku, \u201ccommon antibiotics like tetracycline and penicillin are no longer effective. For some bacteria, up to 80 per cent of the strains we see are resistant to at least one major drug.\u201d He adds that infections such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, typhoid, and urinary tract infections \u2014 once manageable \u2014 are now among the most difficult to treat.<\/p>\n

He recalls a recent case that still haunts him: \u201cA middle-aged woman came in with a small scratch on her leg. She had been self-medicating with antibiotics from a pharmacy because she thought it was just a simple infection. By the time she reached the hospital, she was in septic shock. The bacteria had become resistant to almost every drug available. We tried everything \u2014 ICU, high-level antibiotics \u2014 but she didn\u2019t survive.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

These tragedies are not isolated. Each resistant infection adds new pressure on an already strained healthcare system. Ghanaian families often spend weeks in hospitals, paying for expensive laboratory tests and multiple rounds of antibiotics that may not work. According to Dr. Akuaku, the average cost of treating resistant infections can rise by $1,000 to $1,300 per patient, a burden that pushes many households deeper into debt.<\/p>\n

Globally, the World Bank estimates that by 2050, 24 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty due to the cost and lost productivity associated with antimicrobial resistance.<\/p>\n

While doctors like Akuaku face the crisis in hospitals, pharmacists see it unfolding at the community level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr. Selorm Ameevor, a pharmacist in Accra, describes the daily dilemma behind the counter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe insist on prescriptions before selling antibiotics,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut people get angry. They say, \u2018Why can\u2019t you just sell it to me? The shop down the street will.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

He explains that not all pharmacies uphold the same ethical standards. Some owners pressure their staff to sell antibiotics freely to boost profits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen business is slow, they remind you that sales matter more than prescriptions,\u201d<\/em> Dr Ameevor says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt puts pharmacists in a difficult position \u2014 do you protect public health or please your employer?\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more worrying, unlicensed street peddlers \u2014 from trotro hawkers to market vendors \u2014 openly sell antibiotics alongside painkillers and herbal tonics. Some even market them as miracle cures for everything from malaria to menstrual pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2019, a Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) study found that nearly 90 per cent of medicines on sale in informal markets were unregistered or uncertified \u2014 yet these vendors continue to operate with little consequence.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time someone buys antibiotics from a hawker,\u201d Dr Ameevor warns, \u201cwe risk creating the next strain of bacteria that no drug can cure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broken System \u2014 Regulatory and Diagnostic Failures<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Despite clear laws requiring prescriptions for antibiotics, the rule is rarely enforced. Pharmacies, chemical sellers, and even unlicensed street hawkers openly sell powerful drugs with little fear of sanction.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jonathan Caleb Akuaku says the problem starts with weak institutional capacity. \u201cWe have good policies on paper, but enforcement is almost nonexistent,\u201d he notes. \u201cThe Pharmacy Council and the FDA cannot inspect every shop or market stall. So people exploit the gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n

A walk through Accra\u2019s bustling bus terminals or marketplaces makes this clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From Kaneshie to Makola, hawkers weave through traffic and crowds, waving packets of antibiotics and shouting their supposed benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese drugs cure 1,000 diseases \u2014 no side effects!\u201d one vendor boasts, confirming a 2019 FDA finding that nearly nine in ten medicines sold informally are uncertified. Yet such sales continue daily, in plain sight of authorities.<\/p>\n

Even in licensed pharmacies, the system falters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dr Ameevor, the pharmacist, admits that financial incentives often override professional ethics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSome owners push for higher sales instead of safe practices. When profits dictate behaviour, public health loses.\u201d<\/p>\n

But regulation is only part of the problem. Inside many hospitals, doctors face another critical barrier: broken or underfunded laboratories. Without reliable lab results, clinicians often prescribe antibiotics \u201cempirically\u201d \u2014 essentially guessing which drug might work. When the guess is wrong, the bacteria survive and evolve, spreading resistance further.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes our diagnostic machines have been down for months,\u201d Dr Akuaku says. \u201cWe send samples for culture and sensitivity tests, but the process is slow or incomplete. So doctors prescribe based on experience, not evidence. It\u2019s risky, but we have no choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bureaucratic delays in fixing or replacing equipment only worsen the situation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Repair requests can take weeks or months to process, while patients continue receiving ineffective treatments. In rural areas, the situation is even bleaker \u2014 most district hospitals lack basic lab facilities for bacterial testing altogether.<\/p>\n

The consequences extend beyond hospitals. When antibiotics fail, patients are forced into longer stays and repeated treatments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Families lose income as breadwinners remain hospitalised, and medical bills pile up. For many, the cost of \u201cguesswork medicine\u201d becomes a financial disaster.<\/p>\n

These gaps reveal a grim reality: antibiotic resistance in Ghana isn\u2019t only a medical issue \u2014 it\u2019s a failure of governance, infrastructure, and accountability. Until these deeper cracks are fixed, the misuse and overuse of antibiotics will continue unchecked, eroding one of modern medicine\u2019s most essential defences.<\/p>\n

Human and Economic Costs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For patients like Ama and Faustina, the price of self-medication has been more than medical; it\u2019s financial, emotional, and psychological. When ordinary infections stop responding to common antibiotics, families are left scrambling for expensive, stronger alternatives, often without insurance or financial support.<\/p>\n

At Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ama now spends nearly ten times more on her medication than she did before her infection became resistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each hospital visit requires new lab tests and a series of high-end antibiotics that cost hundreds of cedis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I skip doses just to stretch the medicine,\u201d she admits. \u201cIf I don\u2019t, I can\u2019t afford food.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Faustina, the emotional toll outweighs even the cost. Every time her son Kwame coughs, fear grips her. <\/p>\n

\u201cI keep thinking, what if the drugs stop working completely?\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

The thought that she might have contributed to her child\u2019s condition by buying drugs from hawkers still haunts her.<\/p>\n

These personal struggles echo a larger crisis. Antibiotic resistance doesn\u2019t just prolong illness \u2014 it prolongs poverty. According to Dr Akuaku, patients with resistant infections often remain hospitalised for weeks, unable to work or support their families. \u201cSome lose their jobs entirely,\u201d he explains. \u201cWhen the breadwinner is stuck in a hospital bed, the entire household suffers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Globally, the economic burden of antibiotic resistance is staggering. <\/p>\n

A World Bank report estimates that by 2050, resistant infections could cost the global economy over $100 trillion if left unchecked. For low- and middle-income countries like Ghana, where healthcare costs already consume a large share of household income, the impact could be devastating.<\/p>\n

The Ghana Health Service warns that drug-resistant infections are quietly adding hundreds of millions of cedis in extra hospital costs each year, from extended hospital stays, to repeated diagnostics, to stronger imported medicines. Each of these factors deepens inequality, pushing vulnerable households further into debt.<\/p>\n

Dr. Akuaku calls it a \u201csilent economic crisis.\u201d \u201cWhen people have to choose between paying for antibiotics and paying for food or school fees, society loses twice,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re not just fighting bacteria \u2014 we\u2019re fighting poverty and weak systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Ghana, where most citizens rely on out-of-pocket healthcare spending, the rise in resistant infections threatens to reverse years of progress in public health. Unless strong measures are taken, the country risks a future where even minor injuries or routine surgeries could become life-threatening \u2014 not because of the illness itself, but because the medicines no longer work.<\/p>\n

Accountability and the Way Forward<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As Ghana grapples with the mounting threat of antibiotic resistance, experts say the crisis can still be contained \u2014 but only through coordinated action across government, health institutions, and communities.<\/p>\n

Dr Akuaku believes the first step is enforcing the laws that already exist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t need new regulations \u2014 we need commitment,\u201d he says. \u201cAntibiotics should never be sold without a prescription. The Pharmacy Council and FDA must be visible in markets, on buses, and in pharmacies. Until there are real consequences for illegal sales, the problem will persist.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also stresses the urgent need to strengthen Ghana\u2019s diagnostic systems. \u201cDoctors must have access to working laboratories,\u201d he explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we can identify the exact bacteria causing infections, we can treat precisely \u2014 not blindly. That\u2019s how we stop resistance from spreading.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Ameevor, the pharmacist, adds that public education is just as critical. \u201cPeople need to understand that antibiotics are not painkillers or cold medicines,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are powerful drugs meant for specific infections. Taking them wrongly is like arming the enemy \u2014 you make the bacteria stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2017\u20132021) laid out many of these goals, but implementation has stalled due to funding gaps and competing health priorities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For patients like Ama and Faustina, the lessons have come at great cost. Ama says she no longer buys medicine without seeing a doctor. \u201cI\u2019ve learned the hard way,\u201d she says. \u201cNow, even when I feel fine after two days, I finish the prescription.\u201d Faustina, too, has changed her habits.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell other mothers in my area not to buy drugs from the trotro sellers. I tell them \u2014 it\u2019s not worth the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Dr Akuaku puts it, \u201cAntibiotics built modern medicine. Losing them would take us back a hundred years. We can\u2019t afford to wait until the last drug stops working.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was written by Caleb Ahinakwah, a journalist<\/strong> with an interest in science and health<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"HowAt a small chemist in Dansoman, 34-year-old Ama Mensah thought she had found a quick fix.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each time the burning pain of a urinary tract infection returned, she walked into the shop, described her symptoms, and left with a handful of antibiotics. Sometimes it was ciprofloxacin, other times amoxicillin, sold in broken blister packs because that\u2019s all she could afford.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11779,2401,117,10,9,2055,11780],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antibiotics","category-data","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-research","category-self-medication"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}