Middle-income nations saw highest rise in antibiotics use during 2016-23, finds study

NEW DELHI: Use of antibiotics around the world increased by over 16 per cent between 2016 and 2023, with middle-income countries, including India, seeing the largest rise in consumption, according to a new study that looked at sales from across 67 countries.

Before the Covid pandemic, antibiotic consumption rates increased in middle-income countries (by almost 10 per cent) between 2016-2019, while they decreased in high-income ones (by nearly six per cent), researchers, including those from Harvard University’s School of Public Health, US, found.

Further, in 2020, while the Covid pandemic significantly lowered consumption across all income groups — with highest cuts of about 18 per cent seen in high-income countries — middle-income countries saw quick increases or rebounds in 2021, the team found.

Source: PTI News

Digitalmitra