In most of the world, by population, the regulatory structure of society is so weak that there is no way to achieve this. Antibiotics are available without prescription, licensed doctors of skill are rare, and patients are insistent on antibiotics for everything. In most developed countries doctors are already parsimonious with antibiotics and generally won’t prescribe them unless an infection is observable. But in most of the developing world it’s prevalent to over administer antibiotics either through clinics are directly at the unregulated pharmacies.
Yeah ive seen it myself, and part of it is driven by people's demands and expectations to receive treatment when they go to a doctor. Even if they go for very minor sniffles, many people will not return to the same doctor later if they are given nothing other than what boils down to "stop being a wimp and rest for a few days because nothing I do is going to actually help." Especially when the visit itself comes at a decent cost to the patient (in the US atleast). So doctors who overprescribe medication are more profitable for their owners and have higher demand from patients and are incentivized to do so, while doctors following the science more closely will be less profitable and have lower demand.
Better education on health and healthcare would help, but certainly not come anywhere near eliminating the incentives to over prescribe versus under prescribe antibiotics and medications. Perhaps more placebo medications could help, but that has its own litany of problems in making people believe they are receiving a medication when they are not, and numerous patients might view it as being scammed even if a placebo is the best thing that could be given to them.
At least in the EU they have reduced prescriptions a lot. They don't write antibiotics prescriptions if you have bronchitis unless you have a fever or if it does not improve over a span of days. 10 years ago they would just give you a wide spectrum antibiotic.
They still suck on just taking a swab and culture.
