Why this slogan Antibiotics are not automatic ! was it introduced by the Caisse d’assurance Maladie two decades ago? Antibiotic resistance is a natural process via which bacteria gradually become resistant to the antibiotics available to us. If we cannot prevent it, we are on the other hand able to contain it. What measures are in place in France?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the resistance to the antibiotics represents a major threat to humanity. Some infections that were once commonplace are no longer so; management is more complex and patients die every year in France lack of efficacy of currently available antibiotics. This is a major public health issue.
France in particular is a heavy consumer of antibiotics. In 2016, it used 40% more than its neighboring countries! It was on this date that a coordinated action between human, animal and environmental health began in France according to the concept OneHealth. In fact, everything is connected. Excessive exposure of human and animal populations to antibiotics and their rejection in our environment promote the occurrence of resistance phenomena.
The government’s roadmap to combat antibiotic resistance
The first Interministerial Health Committee (CIS) was created in November 2016 by the government and developed a interministerial program for controlling antibiotic resistance. It revolves around five major axes comprising a total of thirteen key measures and forty actions:
- awareness and communication with the general public and health professionals;
- training of health professionals and proper use of antibiotics thanks to the correct prescription of drugs but also by strengthening the measures of prevention infections;
- research and innovation in matter control of antibiotic resistance;
- measure and monitor antibiotic resistance via the development of indicators for better exploitation of data base ;
- intersectoral governance and policy for controlling antibiotic resistance through coordination with European and international programmes.
2022-2025 national strategy for the prevention of infections and antibiotic resistance
The initial document was supplemented by the 2022-2025 National Strategy for the Prevention of Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance, which includes 42 actions. It was featured in a Press release February 2, 2022. It represents the operational human health component of the previous document. The operational component for animal health is in another document called EcoAntibio2.
The national strategy is based on two pillars: on the one hand, the prevention of infections and on the other hand, the proper use of antibiotics. It was written by a committee bringing together more than 100 professionals with varied and complementary expertise. An example of concrete action: health education and infection prevention from an early age through fun and educational online resources.
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