Impact of Pneumococcal and Varicella Vaccination on Anti-infective Prescribing
Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to the future of healthcare and driven by excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics. Community antibiotic prescriptions have continued to increase in New Zealand (NZ), with resistant bacterial infections rising. However, prevention of some of these infections is possible. Pneumococcal and varicella vaccines have been added to the NZ immunisation schedule, July 2008 and 2011, respectively. Both of these vaccines prevent serious and life-threatening infections. S pneumoniae is responsible for a range of infections from life-threatening (meningitis, sepsis, pneumonia) to less serious but important childhood problems such as ear infections. Chickenpox caused by the varicella virus is a ubiquitous, highly infectious, and vaccine preventable disease. Declines in infectious disease hospitalisations in NZ children have been observed following introduction of these vaccines, therefore we should see reduced antibiotic use. We will examine the impact of childhood pneumococcal and varicella vaccination on antibiotic prescribing in NZ children.
Supervisors
Key qualifications and skills
Knowledge of the statistical software SAS, or happy to learn
Does the project come with funding
No - student must be self-funded.
Final date for receiving applications
Ongoing
Keywords
public health; child health; administrative data; prescribing; penumococcal disease