Wei X, et al. - This is the first study examining the post-trial sustainability of an antimicrobial stewardship programme in a resource-poor setting. In this long-term follow-up study, researchers ascertained if the multifaceted intervention produced sustained outcomes in reducing antibiotic prescribing for childhood upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) in rural China. For this investigation, trial outcomes were collected from the one county (14 facilities and 1:1 cluster randomisation ratio) that had electronic records available 12 months after the trial ended, at the 18-month follow-up period. Factors reported to sustain reductions in antibiotic prescription included enhanced knowledge and communication skills of doctors as well as focused prescription review meetings, while lack of supervision and monitoring may be associated with relapse. At the end of the intervention period and 12 months later, the intervention was associated with sustained and substantial reductions in an antibiotic prescription. The intervention can be adapted to similar resource-poor settings.