World Antimicrobial Awareness Week: Homeopathy, anthroposophic medicine and antimicrobial resistance

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week runs from 18-24 November this year and its theme is “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together.”

EU action in public health gives priority to tackling the emerging global threat of antimicrobial resistance and over-prescription of antibiotics in primary care, a growing global problem with important consequences such as increased mortality and economic impact. Researchers estimate that resistance to antibiotics in bacteria directly caused an estimated 1.27 million deaths in 2019. In the EU this means an estimated 25,000 deaths per year and EUR 1.5 billion per year in healthcare costs and productivity losses. Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to humans, animals, plants and the environment. The development of a new antibiotic can take 10-15 years and cost more than USD 1 billion.

The use of effective and safe non-antibiotic treatments of infections is one of the strategies to reduce (inappropriate) use of antibiotics.

Current evidence suggests that the potential of complementary medicines in reducing the problem of antimicrobial resistance should be given serious consideration. Homeopathy and anthroposophic medicine can have an important role to play – the use of anthroposophic medicine has been associated with much lower use of antibiotics and antipyretics, quicker recovery, fewer adverse reactions, and greater therapy satisfaction compared to conventional medicine. Similar results have been seen in studies of homeopathy, with one study showing lower use of antibiotics and fewer antipyretic/anti-inflammatory drugs for a similar clinical evolution and another concluding that In homeopathic treatment for acute respiratory and ear complaints in primary care was not inferior to conventional treatment.

EUROCAM has published a new position paper that argues in favour of resolving AMR by reducing reliance on antibiotic medicines. This can be achieved by keeping people, animals and the environment healthy. Health-creating strategies aimed at making people more resilient to infections should be prioritised in all EU health policies. ECHAMP supports EUROCAM’s call for an effective, sustainable and resilience-oriented healthcare system and research and investment in safe, effective, non-polluting, non-antibiotic treatments and models that help prevent, treat and manage infectious diseases through improved patient resilience.

ECHAMP also calls for further research in this area in both human and veterinary healthcare. Compared with other avenues, such as the identification and development of new antibiotics, such trials would be relatively easy and inexpensive to carry out and the potential rewards could be enormous.