Newfoundland and Labrador leads Canada and the U.S. for antibiotics overuse. The province’s health minister is now warning that drug resistance could bring a wave of deaths by infection. John Haggie warns overuse and over-prescribing (as a global issue) could throw healthcare back to an era before penicillin when pneumonia and other infections were serious medical threats. The Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System found N.L. had the country’s highest prescription rate in 2016. Rates were lowest in B.C. Purchasing rates of antibiotics for hospitals found Manitoba, and P.E.I. and N.L. combined, had the highest rates per capita. N.B. was among provinces with the greatest decline in purchasing rates. The Canadian College of Health Leaders and HealthCareCAN will gather in June before taking the issue to meetings of G7 leaders later this year.
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