Misuse of antibiotics builds resistance, endangers world health
RESISTANCE to antibiotics is a worldwide concern, and the South African government will be running an awareness campaign about the danger of misusing them.
Yesterday was World Antibiotic Day and this week the World Health Organisation released its Antibiotic Resistance: Multicountry Public Awareness Survey.
It showed that resistance to antibiotics was growing throughout the world, making it more difficult to treat infectious diseases. It also threatened to set back advances in health and medicine of the past few years.
People in 12 countries, including South Africa, Russian, Mexico and Indonesia, were part of the survey.
A total of 1 002 people in South Africa were interviewed and 65% said they had taken antibiotics in the past six months.
National Health Department spokesman Joe Maila said resistance to antibiotics had been talked about at previous meetings, and the department would step up its efforts to address the issue.
“We will do whatever campaign work needs to be done to make sure people know about antibiotic resistance. Curbing it starts with awareness. We have been aware of the issue for some time,” Maila said.
Margaret Chan, the World Health Organisation is directorgeneral, said the rise of antibiotic resistance was a global health crisis and governments recognised it as one of the greatest challenges for public health today.
The findings showed that an average of 81% of people surveyed said they received their antibiotics prescribed or provided by a doctor or nurse, and 9% percent said they obtained the drugs from a pharmacy or medical store.
A total 25% of respondents thought it was acceptable to use antibiotics given by a friend or family member, as long as they were used to treat the same illness.
The survey says 43% said it was acceptable to buy the same antibiotics, or request these from a doctor, if they had helped them get better when they previously had the same symptoms.
“Both contribute to the resistance problem,” the report said.