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Healthcare leaders are being urged to stop prescribing antibiotics to patients who do not need them, amid fear from experts of the rise in antibiotic resistant infections.
A briefing by infectious disease physician Associate Professor Mark Thomas and co-authors noted New Zealand had one of the highest rates of antibiotic resistance in the world, which could have dangerous consequences.
If antibiotic usage was not "dramatically" reduced there would be increased death and disability from untreatable bacterial infections in the coming decades, the briefing said.
"This cost will inevitably fall hardest on those communities with the highest overall rates of antibiotic use, currently Pacific and Māori whānau.
"A large proportion of community antibiotic use, perhaps as much as half, is for people with viral respiratory infections such as coughs, colds and sore throats that pose essentially no risk of harm and are not improved by antibiotics."
Antibiotic use for these kinds of viral infections needed to be rapidly reduced, the briefing said.
It was noted however, that antibiotic use was still needed to treat bacterial infections that could have significant impacts on the health of an unwell person and reducing that usage could be harmful.
Prescribers in New Zealand should only give antibiotics to those who needed them, the briefing said, and prescribers should explain while they provided no benefit for the treatment of viral coughs, cold and sore throats they could cause adverse effects and promoted the spread of antibiotic resistance.
It encouraged Te Whatu Ora and the Royal College of GPs to set goals to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.
"While Te Whatu Ora and the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners have expressed support for efforts to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, neither organisation has provided strong leadership for change.
"It is long past time for both these organisations to actively encourage significant reductions in inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in New Zealand."
