Thanks to the implementation of the State Strategy for Combating Antibiotic Resistance, Ukraine has reduced its consumption of reserve antibiotics by 2-2.5 times since 2022.
According to the Ministry of Health, in particular, the consumption of broad-spectrum antibiotics ceftriaxone has been reduced by half, and levofloxacin by 2.5 times.
“The reduction in the consumption of reserve antibiotics indicates that doctors prefer other, less potent first-line antibiotics whenever possible. This allows important drugs to be saved for cases where other antibiotics are ineffective,” explains the Ministry of Health.
In addition, the Ministry of Health notes an increase in the consumption of oral forms of antibiotics. In particular, in 2024, only 8% of all antibiotic prescriptions were in the form of injections.
The Ministry of Health emphasizes that, according to WHO data, as of 2023, almost one in six confirmed bacterial infections worldwide are already resistant to standard treatment, and in 2019, nearly 5 million deaths worldwide were linked to antibiotic resistance.
“Antibiotics are critically important medicines. If you take them just in case or not as prescribed, they lose their potency because bacteria easily become resistant to them. Their resistance is our vulnerability. Among the main causes of antibiotic resistance are the excessive use of antibiotics and non-compliance with the course of treatment prescribed by a doctor,” the Ministry of Health notes.
Reserve antibiotics are drugs that are prescribed in extreme cases to treat severe bacterial infections when first-line (“access group”) and second-line (“observation group”) antibiotics have proven ineffective. They are used only when there is an immediate threat to life, in order to avoid losing their effectiveness due to resistance.
The use of antibiotics in Ukraine to date has grown 3.5 times compared to the same period last year, the Minister of Health said during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada on Friday.
“Indeed, our use of antibiotics has grown 3.5 times compared to the same period last year. There is a program regarding provision with pharmaceutical companies – they are fully provided with raw materials. If antibiotics have disappeared in some pharmacy, I think these are isolated cases,” he said. At the same time, the minister urged not to self-medicate.
“We held meetings with the heads of pharmacy chains regarding the provision of antibiotics and other drugs, in particular, anticoagulants. There was a big request from this industry to appeal to the population not to self-medicate,” Stepanov said.
