Korea Agency for Disease Control and Prevention 2023 Antibiotic Resistance Awareness Survey
70% of doctors say “antibiotic resistance is a serious problem”
“Don’t ask for unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions.”
Health authorities emphasized that not only the medical community but also the general public should recognize the seriousness of the antibiotic resistance problem and make efforts to use it correctly.
According to the ‘Antibiotic Resistance Awareness Survey’ conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 18th last year among 800 general public and 1,100 doctors, about half of respondents (52.9%) recognized antibiotic resistance as a serious problem.
However, only 28.1% of the general public truly understood that antibiotics are a treatment for bacterial infectious diseases. More than 70% of the remaining people mistakenly believed that it was effective against viral infectious diseases such as colds or did not know its purpose at all.
In the case of doctors, about 7 out of 10 respondents (69.6%) responded that antibiotic resistance is a serious problem. The reasons for the increase in antibiotic resistance included ’doctors’ excessive prescription of antibiotics’ (55.9%) and patients’ arbitrary discontinuation of taking antibiotics (22.1%).
As the use of antibiotics around the world has increased since COVID-19, the international community is urging each country to strengthen antibiotic resistance prevention and management. According to an announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO) in April, antibiotics were reportedly used in 75% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, although only 8% required antibiotics.
The main cause of antibiotic resistance is misuse of antibiotics. As of 2021, Korea’s antibiotic use is about 1.2 times higher than the average for countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It is known that approximately 30% of antibiotics prescribed in medical institutions are inappropriate.
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said, “In order to overcome antibiotic resistance, both the medical community and the general public must recognize the seriousness of the antibiotic resistance problem and use antibiotics correctly.” “Doctors should appropriately prescribe antibiotics according to the guidelines, and the general public should properly use prescribed drugs.” “It is also important not to ask your doctor to prescribe unnecessary antibiotics while taking them,” he said.
raise public awareness of antibiotic resistance. You can check antibiotic resistance information on the main page of the ‘Policy Information’ section of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency website.
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