WHO report reveals antibiotic use by country

pharmafile | November 14, 2018 | News story | Research and Development  

Britain uses more than twice as many antibiotics as the Netherlands, according to a new report published by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Meanwhile the paper, published under the title ‘WHO Report on Surveillance of Antibiotic Consumption’ , says that Mongolia has the highest rate of antibiotic use, while Burundi has the lowest. However it was noted that Burundi’s low score may be due to a lack of data. Equally low consumption in Burundi may be indicative of low consumption which may increase the risk of infectious diseases.  

The report demonstrates that use of antibiotics varies significantly between countries. The report did not include data from America, China or India.

Nevertheless, Turkey was shown to be the biggest user of antibiotics in Europe, followed by Serbia and Montenegro. Meanwhile Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan were shown to use the fewest antibiotics among European countries.

The report has prompted calls to cut unnecessary use of antibiotics.

“Findings from this report confirm the need to take urgent action, such as enforcing prescription-only policies, to reduce unnecessary use of antibiotics,” said Suzanne Hill, director of the Department of Essential Medicines and Health Products at the WHO.

Louis Goss

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