Healthy Skepticism Library item: 16495
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
 
Publication type: Journal Article
Roehr B
Campaigns to reduce antibiotic use in the US cannot compete with drug advertising, study says
BMJ 2009 Sep 15;
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/339/sep15_3/b3785
Abstract:
Regional public education campaigns in the United States to promote more appropriate use of antibiotics among outpatients are underfunded and seldom evaluated for effectiveness, concludes a study presented at the 49th Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy in San Francisco on 12-15 September.
“The main problems in the US are that the programmes are not adequately funded or evaluated,” said the study’s lead author, Benedikt Huttner, from Geneva, Switzerland. Many operate on $100 000 (£60 000; $70 000) a year or less, which pays for little more than the salary of a programme administrator. “There is very little money left over for the interventions themselves,” said Dr Huttner.
The study identified 19 campaigns, all of which focused on colds and flu. The television component, where it existed in campaigns, was limited to “public service announcements that are shown free of charge but often appear in the middle of the . . .