Antibiotic resistance is already worse in this region than almost anywhere else. WHO estimates it is highest in the South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean Regions, where one in three reported infections was resistant, against roughly one in six worldwide. The UAE sits in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

This is the rare health article whose most useful advice is to take less of something, not more. So it is worth being clear about what is actually being asked, which is not that you avoid antibiotics when you need them. It is that antibiotics get used when they will work and skipped when they will not, because the alternative is a future where they stop working for everyone.

Key takeaways

  • Resistance is highest in this region. One in three reported infections in the Eastern Mediterranean Region was resistant, against one in six globally in 2023.
  • The scale is not abstract. Bacterial resistance was associated with more than 4.7 million deaths globally in 2021.
  • It is getting worse. Between 2018 and 2023 resistance rose in over 40% of monitored pathogen-antibiotic combinations, at an average annual increase of 5 to 15%.
  • Misuse and overuse are the main drivers, including taking antibiotics when they are not needed or taking the wrong type.
  • Antibiotics do nothing for viruses. Colds and flu are viral, so an antibiotic cannot help and can still harm you.
  • The most-affected people are the most vulnerable. Resistance narrows options and raises the risks of ordinary surgery.
  • Take the antibiotic you were prescribed, as prescribed, and never a leftover course or someone else’s.

How bad is resistance really?

Bad enough that WHO calls it a major global health threat, and worse here than the global average.

The figures are worth stating precisely rather than gesturing at:

  • Bacterial antimicrobial resistance was estimated to be associated with more than 4.7 million deaths globally in 2021.
  • Approximately 1 in 6 laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections worldwide were resistant to antibiotics in 2023.
  • In the Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia Regions, 1 in 3 reported infections were resistant.
  • Between 2018 and 2023, antibiotic resistance rose in over 40% of the pathogen-antibiotic combinations monitored, with an average annual increase of 5 to 15%.

WHO also notes that resistance is more common and worsening where health systems lack capacity to diagnose or treat bacterial pathogens, and that the greatest burden falls on countries least equipped to respond. E. coli and K. pneumoniae are named as the leading drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria in bloodstream infections, which are among the most severe infections and often lead to sepsis, organ failure and death.

What actually causes resistance?

Misuse and overuse of antibiotics, which WHO names as one of the main drivers.

The specific behaviours it identifies are taking antibiotics when they are not needed, and taking the wrong type. Both are easy to do without meaning any harm.

There is a second, subtler driver in the data. Antibiotics are grouped by how much resistance pressure they generate. Access antibiotics are recommended as first-choice treatments for most common infections; watch antibiotics carry a higher risk of resistance. In 2022, access antibiotics accounted for only about 53% of global human antibiotic use, while watch antibiotics made up roughly 45% and exceeded 70% of total use in nearly one third of countries. The global target is for at least 70% of use to come from the access group by 2030.

In plain terms: too often the stronger, broader antibiotic is used when a narrower one would have done. That is a prescribing and supply question more than a patient one, but it is the reason “just give me something strong” is the wrong request to make.

Resistance is also not limited to bacteria. WHO documents HIV drug resistance, antiviral resistance in influenza, azole-resistant Aspergillus, multi-drug resistant Candidozyma auris, and partial artemisinin resistance in malaria parasites, which matters for anyone taking prophylaxis when travelling.

Will an antibiotic help my cold or flu?

No. Colds and flu are caused by viruses, and antibiotics act on bacteria.

This is the single most common misuse and the easiest to avoid. An antibiotic taken for a viral illness cannot shorten it or make you feel better. It can still give you the side effects, still disturb your gut bacteria, and still contribute to resistance.

Most sore throats, coughs, colds and cases of flu are viral and resolve on their own. Symptoms that warrant a medical opinion rather than an antibiotic request include a fever that is high or persistent, difficulty breathing, symptoms that worsen after initially improving, or illness in someone very young, elderly or immunosuppressed. Those are reasons to be assessed. Whether an antibiotic follows is a decision that needs the assessment first.

Should I finish the course?

Take the antibiotic exactly as it was prescribed to you, and raise any question about stopping early with the prescriber rather than deciding alone.

Two things drive this. The dose and duration you were given were chosen for the infection you have. And stopping when you feel better is a decision made on symptoms, while the infection is judged on more than symptoms.

What is not in question is the rest of it:

  • Do not save leftovers for next time. A future illness may be viral, or bacterial but different.
  • Do not take someone else’s antibiotic. It may be the wrong drug, wrong dose or wrong duration, and you skip the diagnosis entirely.
  • Do not stop and restart across an illness.

If you develop side effects that make you want to stop, that is a reason to contact the prescriber, not to quietly discontinue. There may be an alternative.

Can I buy antibiotics without a prescription?

Antibiotics are prescription medicines, and obtaining them without a prescription removes the step that decides whether you need one at all.

The prescription is not bureaucracy. It is where somebody establishes that the infection is bacterial, chooses an antibiotic likely to work against it, and sets a dose and duration. Skipping that gives you the risks of the medicine with a much lower chance of its benefit.

A licensed pharmacy, online or physical, should disclose who dispenses, where it is licensed, and whether a prescription is required. A seller willing to supply a prescription-only antibiotic without one is telling you something about its standards generally.

The UAE rules on prescribing and supply are covered in bringing medicine into the UAE.

What can one person actually change?

More than it feels like, because the drivers are individual behaviours repeated at scale.

  • Do not ask for antibiotics for a cold or flu, and do not treat a doctor declining to prescribe them as being fobbed off. It is the correct answer.
  • Take a prescribed course as directed.
  • Do not keep or share leftovers.
  • Prevent infections in the first place: hand hygiene, food hygiene, and keeping vaccinations up to date. WHO’s framing is that reducing infections reduces the need for antimicrobials at all.
  • If you are prescribed an antibiotic, it is reasonable to ask what it is for, how long you need it, and what to do if you do not improve.

Do and don’t

Do:

  • Take a prescribed antibiotic exactly as directed.
  • Ask what the antibiotic is treating and how long you should take it.
  • Contact the prescriber if side effects make you want to stop.
  • Get assessed for symptoms that worsen after improving, or a persistent high fever.
  • Keep vaccinations current.

Don’t:

  • Don’t take antibiotics for a cold, flu or most sore throats.
  • Don’t keep leftover antibiotics for next time.
  • Don’t take an antibiotic prescribed for someone else.
  • Don’t ask for a stronger or broader antibiotic than you were offered.
  • Don’t buy prescription antibiotics from a seller that requires no prescription.

Frequently asked questions

If resistance is already at one in three here, is it too late? No. Resistance is a rate, not a switch, and it responds to how antimicrobials are used. WHO’s global action plan targets a 10% reduction in bacterial AMR-associated deaths in humans by 2030, which assumes the rate can be moved.

Does resistance mean my body becomes resistant? No, and this is a common misunderstanding. It is the bacteria that become resistant, not you. That is why resistance is shared: resistant bacteria spread between people, so the consequences of misuse are not confined to the person who misused them.

Are antibiotic side effects a reason to avoid them? Not when one is genuinely needed. The argument here is about using them when they will work, not about avoiding them. An antibiotic for a real bacterial infection is one of the most valuable medicines there is, which is precisely why it is worth protecting.

Where to go next

The antibiotics category lists what is stocked here, our fourth-largest at 48 products, and the ingredients index maps each active ingredient to the brands containing it, which is useful for checking whether something you were given abroad is an antibiotic and which one.

MedicForce option: our antibiotic listings are organised by active ingredient and strength, so a prescription written in another country can be matched precisely.