The third week of November is  World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week.

A number of doctors said that the unprescribed use of drugs, especially antibiotics, can cause death among children.

Some pharmacists complain about the sale of drugs that are not prescribed, especially antibiotics.

The Afghanistan Food and Drug Authority (AFDA) said that they are trying to prevent the citizens of the country from using antibiotics on their own.

Currently there is excessive use of drugs, especially antibiotics, in the country.

Seven-month-old Mohammad was admitted to the Indira Gandhi Children’s Hospital in Kabul for four days due to diarrhea, and his mother said that she brought him from Bamiyan to Kabul for treatment and in the first days of his illness, she gave him a dose of antibiotics.

“We took medicine from each of them twice, but it didn't work. I brought my child to Bamiyan, but when it didn't work there either, I brought him to Kabul,” said Amena, Mohammad’s mother.

Meanwhile, some pharmacists said that the sale and recommendation of over-the-counter drugs and antibiotics has recently increased by pharmacists in some areas.

“Clients come a lot and we don't allow them to self-prescribe. Our advice is to go to a doctor,” said Omaid, a pharmacist.

“Pharmacists should not prescribe self-medication and people should not  self-medication because it is very harmful,” said Abdul Wasim, a pharmacist.

Some doctors said that self-medication, especially with antibiotics, can cause death, especially among children.

“First, the antibiotic is not effective; when it is not effective, the antibiotic lasts a long time and ruins the child's condition. Even this microbe resistance ... causes the death of children,” said Mohammad Aref Hasan, a doctor.

The AFDA added that they are trying to prevent the use of antibiotics and self-medicating by the citizens of the country by launching awareness programs.

“Indiscriminate use of drugs, whether antibiotics or other drug families, have many side effects that can be fatal in some cases,” said Jawid Hazhir, the spokesman of the AFDA.

Based on the statements of the World Health Organization, the indiscriminate use of antibiotics can create resistance in humans and make the treatment of some diseases difficult or impossible in the future and increase the risk of disease spread and death.