China Medical News

A recent global review by the UK's Lord Jim O'Neill on anti-microbial resistance, estimates that by 2050 antibiotic resistance could result in 1 million premature deaths annually in China. "China could suffer an enormous loss of GDP because of that," said O'Neill, who headed the expert review team. According to the report, China uses around half the world's antibiotics, of which 48 percent are consumed by people and the rest are used in the agricultural sector. Weak regulation on the use of antibiotics in agriculture also further encourages overuse, it said.

A director of the Institute for Disease Prevention and Control of the People's Liberation Army, said excessive antibiotic residue might be passed on to humans through meat consumption, increasing the possibility of antibiotic resistance in people. He added that this could "contaminate" other parts of the world due to increasing international travel and exchange. O'Neill said: "It's a serious global challenge and thus needs a global solution."

According to a member of the Rational Drug Use Committee of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, "The Chinese government recognized the challenges and implemented measures starting in 2012 to tackle that". The measures include stricter control over public access to antibiotics, overhauling their overuse by hospitals, and monitoring of antibiotic resistance. "Antibiotic use dropped by 40% by the end of last year," he said, citing the national surveillance network of drug use linking large hospitals nationwide. (Source: National Health and Family Planning Commission)