The Influence of National Policies on Antibiotic Prescribing

Increasing antimicrobial resistance presents a major threat to public health and has caused great concern worldwide. The problem calls for action at a local and global level. Since antibiotic misuse is considered the major condition for the emergence of resistance, many countries have implemented different policies and interventions for controlling antibiotic use most of the time depending on existing resources and infrastructure. Some are simple, based only on education, others are more extensive taking into consideration all aspects involved in antibiotic prescribing. The results of an antibiotic policy should be judged according to its impact on antimicrobial resistance and quality of prescribing and not solely on cost saving. In these terms some national policies have been successful, others not and for some it is still too early to make any judgment, since they are still in the early phase of implementation. However, the effects of many national policies may not be optimal from a global perspective if countries fail to take account of the cross-border effect of their actions (Smith and Coast, 2002). Therefore, besides national policies, international cooperation is a factor that can play a significant role in the battle against antimicrobial resistance. Specifically for Europe, its expansion with the acceptance of new members, gives the challenging opportunity to collectively tackle antimicrobial resistance. This can be done either by implementing uniform European antibiotic policies, or if it is not feasible, by promoting the close cooperation among the European countries on various relative issues.