Antibiotic Prescription in Iran is 10% Higher than Global Average

Azita Nabizadeh, head of the Health Technology Assessment Group at the Food and Drug Organization, states that the consumption of antibiotics in Iran is 10% higher than the global average. On Tuesday, July 23, she mentioned that while the World Health Organization recommends that a maximum of 30% of prescriptions contain antibiotics, in Iran, '40% of physicians' prescriptions contain antibiotics.' Ms. Nabizadeh emphasized that the rate of antibiotic prescriptions in previous years was about 50%, which has been reduced to 40% due to efforts by the Food and Drug Organization and food and drug departments across the country. In 2018, the World Health Organization reported that Iran, with a consumption of 38.78 defined daily doses per 1,000 people, was the second-largest consumer of antibiotics globally. A report published by the Hamshahri newspaper in April 2023 indicated high antibiotic consumption in Iran, showing that Iranians consume 60 million antibiotics annually. According to reports from the National Committee for Rational Antibiotic Use, antibiotic consumption in Iran is 16 times higher than the global standard. The irrational and excessive use of antibiotics leads to the destruction of beneficial bacteria and microbial resistance in the body, and continuing this trend could expose individuals to dangerous allergies or drug sensitivities. In recent years, resistance to antimicrobial drugs has become a global problem and a concern for experts at the World Health Organization, to the extent that this organization has designated November 18 to 24 as the Global Week for 'Awareness of Antimicrobial Drugs and Prevention of Microbial Resistance.' Nazli Nader, a drug prescription and consumption expert at the Food and Drug Organization of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, states that since the irrational use of antimicrobial drugs leads to microbial resistance, predictions indicate that by 2050, microbial resistance will claim more victims than cancer.