The prescription of antibiotics in France is 41% higher than the European average, according to a new report from the OECD.
In France, “the prescription of antibiotics remains worrying”, judges the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in a report published on Wednesday. The famous campaign “Antibiotics are not automatic” will therefore have fizzled out: their use “is 41% higher than the European average”, adds the report. The French consume 28.7 daily doses defined per 1000 inhabitants against 20.4 doses on average in Europe.
France is ranked 4th in Europe in antibiotic consumption, behind Greece (35.1), Cyprus (32) and Belgium (29), but far ahead of the United Kingdom (18.8), the Germany (14.1) and the Netherlands (11.4) the country which consumes the least.
Overconsumption can lead to therapeutic dead ends
This overconsumption has a deleterious impact on the health of patients since the OECD “observes a clear correlation between the volume of antibiotics prescribed locally and the prevalence of resistant bacterial strains”. Resistance which can lead to particularly dangerous therapeutic dead ends: 25,000 people die each year from resistant bacteria in Europe and 23,000 in the United States.
In order to reverse this trend, Marisol Touraine announced at the end of November the establishment of a working group on the preservation of antibiotics. Three objectives have been defined by the Minister of Health: to find an economic model that makes it possible to support the emergence of new molecules, in order to consume less antibiotics; relaunch a new prevention program through communication, in particular aimed at the youngest; finally, encourage doctors, hospital practitioners and pharmacists to be more reasoned in the use of antibiotics.
While the consumption of antibiotics had decreased from the 2000s (-10.7% between 2000 and 2013), an upward trend has been observed for three years (+ 5.9%).
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