Antibiotics: consumption increases despite public campaigns

“Antibiotics are not automatic”, “Used wrongly, they will become less strong. The slogans are multiplying, but the consumption of antibiotics has started to rise again since 2010 (+ 5.9%). This is what the Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) recently concluded in its report “The evolution of antibiotic consumption in France between 2000 and 2013.” France remains the poor student in Europe. , with a consumption 30% higher than that of our neighbors. This is not, however, for lack of public awareness campaigns.

2002 to 2007: -26.5% of prescriptions

In 2002, the Health Insurance took note of the overconsumption of antibiotics and the development of antibiotic resistance. It sets up a first campaign, repeated every winter. The slogan has since entered people’s minds: “Antibiotics are not automatic. »An objective was then set: to reduce consumption by 25% in 5 years. It is even slightly exceeded since the number of prescriptions has fallen by 26.5%. A review of Lancet, published in 2010, also seems to confirm that awareness campaigns are leading to a drop in consumption.

Watch the 2002 campaign:

In the long run, it is a failure. In 2007, the consumption of antibiotics started to rise again, particularly in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Center regions. As underlined by Prof. Benoit Schlemmer, Chairman of the National Monitoring Committee for the Plan to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics, in an analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the situation in France: “We recorded a 4% increase in prescriptions intended for adults between 2008 and 2009, this increase being even greater when measured from one winter to another, the jump then approaching 10%. “

2011: the campaign gets a makeover

In 2011, the Health Insurance took over the reins and released the heavy artillery. A new slogan, “Antibiotics: used wrongly, they will become less strong”, a new television campaign, public displays, but above all a new site dedicated to antibiotics. This time, the CNAM is playing the education card and explaining to the public why it is vital to reduce our consumption.

Watch the 2011 campaign:

There again, it is a failure: the consumption of antibiotics continues its inexorable progression. As a result, the WHO recently sounded the alarm. “The world is moving into a post-antibiotic era, where common infections and minor wounds that have been treated for decades could kill again,” warned Dr Keiji Fukuda, Assistant Director-General of WHO.

2012: a new target, doctors

In 2012, Health Insurance played another card: raising awareness among doctors. It sets up the Remuneration for Public Health Objectives (ROSP), which includes a component “optimization of the prescription. “In the context of antibiotic therapy, it is a question of reducing to less than 37 prescriptions per 100 patients. If the objectives are met, the doctor receives a bonus. Among the members, it is a very relative success, but all the same visible: the number of prescriptions of antibiotics per 100 inhabitants declined by 3% on average.

Source: Health insurance

How to explain this reluctance of doctors to reduce their prescription? For Professor Schlemmer, the reason is very simple: “Time is money and the truth is that it is faster to prescribe an antibiotic to the patient than to explain to him for half an hour why he does not. doesn’t really need it, ”he says. It is also difficult to explain to patients that it is better not to treat and return to consult if symptoms worsen. “People prefer not to have to come back,” he admits. It remains to find the recipe that makes a public campaign effective in the long term.