Review: Resistance could cause 1 million premature deaths a year in country by 2050

The use of antibiotics in Chinese hospitals has dropped by 40 percent since the top health authority began to curb their overuse, said a senior expert.

"The Chinese government recognized the challenges and implemented measures starting in 2012 to tackle that," said Xiao Yonghong, a professor at the Institute of Clinical Pharmacology at Peking University and a member of the Rational Drug Use Committee of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.