Antibiotics Dispensed by Clinical Indication in Kakamega County, Kenya

Kakamega County, western Kenya, is the focus of this dataset documenting 504 antibiotic dispensing events from 22 community pharmacies in August 2025. It was created by Eleanor Turnbull-Jones and records dispensing source, clinical indication, antibiotic type, course completion, and self-reported repeat use. The data was last updated on May 15, 2026.

Use Cases

• Analyze the prevalence of over-the-counter versus prescription-based antibiotic dispensing based on the recorded dispensing source.
• Investigate the association between specific clinical indications and the types of antibiotics dispensed based on the recorded indications and antibiotic names.
• Study the impact of financial constraints on antibiotic course completion based on data about partial courses and their stated reasons.
• Model patterns of self-reported repeat antibiotic use within a community based on the recorded history of recent use.

Strengths

• Records 504 specific dispensing events with detailed counts for OTC (224) and prescription-based (278) sources.
• Includes specific counts for major clinical indications like upper respiratory tract infections (156 events) and lower respiratory tract infections (95 events).
• Captures concrete data on partial antibiotic courses (33 events) and their primary cause (financial constraints in 15 events).

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is limited to a 19-day period in August 2025 and 22 pharmacies in one Kenyan county, which may not be generalizable.

Provenance

Source

Eleanor Turnbull-Jones via figshare.

Collection Method

Data collected from 22 community pharmacies in Kakamega County, Kenya.

Time Range

August 3-22, 2025.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-15 17:26:50; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Kakamega County, western Kenya.