Antibiotic use in hospitals tumbles

Campaign to cut overuse begins to yield results

China's national campaign to crack down on prescription drug abuse appears to be making progress, after figures revealed a drop of 6 percentage points in the use of antibiotics in hospitals from 2008 to 2011.

An annual report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on China's pharmaceutical market showed top-level hospitals in 21 provinces reported antibiotics use dropped from 25 percent in 2008 to 19 percent in 2011.