{"id":79936,"date":"2026-07-23T18:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=79936"},"modified":"2026-07-23T18:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:58:09","slug":"antibiotic-use-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-07-2026\/antibiotic-use-india","title":{"rendered":"India using Too Many Powerful Antibiotics: Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Health<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>As per a Study in the <strong>Lancet India <\/strong>may be using too many powerful <strong>\u2018watch\u2019 antibiotics.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Major Highlights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Global Scenario:<\/strong> Antibiotic use across 186 countries and territories, representing <strong>99.8% of the world\u2019s population.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They found that<strong> 72% of countries <\/strong>used <strong>more antibiotics overall than estimated to be necessary.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>90% prescribed excessive quantities<\/strong> of antibiotics that contribute most to antimicrobial resistance.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>60% continued to use antibiotics<\/strong> the World Health Organisation (WHO) considers should no longer be routinely prescribed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indian Scenario:<\/strong> It suggests <strong>\u2018reserve\u2019 antibiotics are being underused<\/strong> despite the <strong>country\u2019s resistance burden,<\/strong> while antibiotics that are no longer recommended continue to be prescribed more than expected.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Only 27% <\/strong>of antibiotic use currently comes from the \u2018access category,\u2019 against an estimated requirement of 52.3%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In India some <strong>\u2018watch\u2019 antibiotics are potentially being used unnecessarily <\/strong>and some of this use could be replaced with \u2018access\u2019 antibiotics instead.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Antibiotics<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Antibiotics <strong>are medications that destroy or slow down the growth of bacteria<\/strong>. Doctors prescribe them to treat <strong>bacterial infections.<\/strong> They do this by killing bacteria and preventing them from multiplying.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Alexander Fleming discovered <strong>penicillin, the first natural antibiotic, in 1928.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antibiotics cannot fight<strong> viral infections.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The World Health Organisation (WHO) groups antibiotics into three categories:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Access: <\/strong>First-choice antibiotics for common infections that have a lower risk of driving resistance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Watch:<\/strong> Broad-spectrum antibiotics that should be used only for specific infections because they carry a higher risk of promoting antimicrobial resistance.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reserve: <\/strong>Last-resort antibiotics reserved for treating multidrug-resistant infections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Antimicrobials: <\/strong>Antimicrobials are <strong>agents used to prevent, control and treat infectious diseases in humans, animals and plants<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They include antibiotics, fungicides, antiviral agents and parasiticides.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when <strong>bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites<\/strong> no longer respond to medicines, making people sicker and increasing the risk of disease spread, illness and deaths.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-dominant-color=\"e5e5e5\" data-has-transparency=\"false\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"481\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-216.png\" alt=\"AMR\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-79937\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e5e5e5; aspect-ratio:2.079047103410937;width:577px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-216.png 1000w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-216-300x144.png 300w, https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-216-768x369.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Causes for Antimicrobial Resistance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Overuse:<\/strong> The excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans and animals is a major driver of antimicrobial resistance.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Self-Medication: <\/strong>Self-prescription without proper medical guidance contributes to the misuse of antibiotics.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Antibiotics Consumption in Food-Animals:<\/strong> Use of antibiotics as growth promoters in food animals and poultry is a common practice and later it evolves in the food chain.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Poor Sanitation:<\/strong> The large proportion of sewage is disposed of untreated into receiving water bodies, leading to gross contamination of rivers with antibiotic residues, antibiotic-resistant organisms.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Measures Taken against Antimicrobial Resistance in India&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR):<\/strong> It has a focus on the One Health approach &amp; was launched with the aim of involving various stakeholders ministries\/departments.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>AMR Surveillance Network:<\/strong> Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) established the AMR surveillance and research network (AMRSN) to generate evidence and capture trends and patterns of drug resistant infections in the country.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>FSSAI has set certain guidelines <\/strong>limiting the antibiotics in food products such as fish and honey.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Health Policy, 2017: <\/strong>It terms antimicrobial resistance as one of the key healthcare issues and prioritizes the development of guidelines regarding antibiotic use and check on restricting the growth of antibiotics.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>National Antibiotic Consumption Network (NAC-NET):<\/strong> The network sites compile data on antibiotic consumption in their respective health facilities and send it to National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: IE<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong> Context <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> As per a Study in the Lancet India may be using too many powerful \u2018watch\u2019 antibiotics. <\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong> Major Highlights <\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> Global Scenario: Antibiotic use across 186 countries and territories, representing 99.8% of the world\u2019s population.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\"> They found that 72% of countries used more antibiotics overall than estimated to be necessary.\u00a0 <\/li>\n<p><a href=\" https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-07-2026\/antibiotic-use-india \" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79936"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79940,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79936\/revisions\/79940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}