This systematic review and meta-analysis looked at how educational and multifaceted interventions affect prescribing habits in the Middle East and North Africa region. The analysis combined data from sixteen different studies in this area to see if these programs could improve how medicines are prescribed. The researchers focused on specific indicators like the number of drugs given per prescription and the use of antibiotics or injections.
The results showed a modest reduction in the average number of drugs per prescription. However, the data did not show a statistically significant change in the odds of prescriptions containing antibiotics or injections. The overall certainty of the evidence was rated as low to very low for all outcomes due to extreme statistical differences between the studies.
Readers should note that these findings suggest context-specific stewardship and prescribing quality programs can achieve targeted improvements. Because the evidence is limited and the results for antibiotics and injections were not statistically significant, these programs should be viewed as promising but not yet proven to work reliably in every setting.