About 57 per cent of prescribed antibiotics fall into a category of drugs with a high potential for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that generally have to be monitored for misuse.
- This was disclosed by a report released recently by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare found.
- The study was conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) under the ministry over six months from November 2021 to April 2022.
- The survey included 9,652 patients and 12,342 antibiotic prescriptions across 20 tertiary care institutes across the country.
- The antibiotic prescriptions were classified based on AWaRe categories developed in 2017 by the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines.
- The AWaRe Classification of antibiotics was developed in 2017 by the WHO Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines as a tool to support antibiotic stewardship efforts at local, national and global levels.
- Antibiotics are classified into three groups, Access, Watch and Reserve, taking into account the impact of different antibiotics and antibiotic classes on antimicrobial resistance, to emphasize the importance of their appropriate use.
