Warnings about antibiotic usage (like those about c-section births) seem to fall on deaf ears
No matter how many warnings, Portugal continues to use antibiotics at a rate that far exceeds its European counterparts.
A little like the (constant) advice on reducing c-section births, the country’s medical profession does not appear to be listening.
Medicines authority INFARMED is making ‘European Antibiotic Day’ today to make another effort for increased awareness.
In a statement, the entity points out that global antibiotic consumption in Portugal increased by 2% between 2019 and 2023 – double the average increase of other EU countries.
These results come at a time when all countries in the bloc are being encouraged to REDUCE total antibiotic consumption by 20% by 2030, as part of the fight against ‘antimicrobial resistance’ (the point where bodies are so saturated by exposure to antibiotics that they no longer ‘work’ when prescribed).
INFARMED also states that the dispensing of antibiotics in community pharmacies increased between 2022 and 2023 – from an average of 17.1 defined daily doses per thousand inhabitants per day (DHD) to 18 DHD – and that its preliminary figures of 20.5 DHD in the first half of 2024 indicate that the upward trend is continuing.
Hospital consumption of antibiotics in Portugal corresponded to 1.7 DHD in 2022 and 2023, with preliminary data for the first half of 2024 also showing a slight upward trend (1.8 DHD).
“This data reinforces the need for concerted action by all stakeholders to ensure that antibiotics should be used appropriately, bearing in mind that the therapeutic arsenal has hardly been strengthened in recent years and that current drugs are at risk of losing their effectiveness in the face of growing bacterial resistance,” says the statement
In 2019, the WHO declared antimicrobial resistance as one of humanity’s 10 most significant global public health threats.
In May, when updating the list of bacteria that threaten human health due to antibiotic resistance, the UN health agency pointed out that the problem causes around 1.27 million direct deaths annually and contributes to 4.19 million more.
Regarding cesarean section births, Portugal has traditionally been a country where women are subjected to these at a far higher rate than international bodies consider wise.
Source material: LUSA
