title: Irrational use of antibiotics and the risk of diabetes in Ghana.
abstract: Epidemiological studies show clearly that Caesarean birth, perinatal or neonatal irrational antibiotic use is strongly associated with increased risk of obesity and diabetes in later life. Irrational use of antibiotics is a great global public health concern especially in developing economies like Ghana due to poor regulation on medicines. Unfortunately, this concern has been reduced to the fear of development of resistant organisms and the destruction of the world's limited range of antibiotics therapy at the expense of other insidious risks including the development of metabolic and atopic diseases. These risks however appear to have greater implications on public health systems of developing economies. Here, we review the ignored role of antibiotics in the global obesity pandemic and project the risk that it poses to the health system of a developing economy like Ghana.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Department of Pharmacology, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah university of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
authors.forename: Kwesi B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Mensah
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ansah
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003906:Developing Countries; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000209:etiology*; D005869:Ghana; D006801:Humans; D057970:Inappropriate Prescribing / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009765:Obesity / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000150:complications; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents
keywords: Antibiotics; Ghana; diabetes; resistance; “thrifty gene”