Improving community antibiotic prescribing to keep antibiotics working in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance, principally a consequence of the human use of antibiotics dispensed in the community, is a relentlessly growing threat to human health in Aotearoa New Zealand. Reducing the prescription of antibiotics for conditions in which they confer no benefit is the most effective method of slowing the spread of antibiotic resistance. In Aotearoa New Zealand, as in many other nations, antibiotic "treatment" of acute respiratory tract infections is the most important component of unnecessary antibiotic use. Because of the ethnic inequities in the incidence and consequences of infectious diseases in Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori and Pacific patients should receive antibiotic treatment more frequently than patients of other ethnicities. However, Māori and Pacific people who present to their doctor with conditions that do not require antibiotic treatment deserve the same excellent treatment as anyone else and should not be prescribed an antibiotic when it will provide no benefit. Setting annual goals for reductions in community antibiotic dispensing has been an effective method to encourage sustained improvements in antibiotic prescribing in other nations, and may help to quickly reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in Aotearoa New Zealand.