Skopje, 12 September 2022 (MIA) – The World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest report notes that North Macedonia is making progress in terms of antimicrobial resistance and the use of e-healthcare in response to Covid-19, whilst disastrous healthcare expenses pose a further challenge. This report is one of the 14 national reports from the series of reports for the support of member states in the European WHO region that are not part of the EU. The series was produced in cooperation with the WHO’s Regional Office of the WHO and the European observatory for healthcare systems and policies. In the WHO’s North Macedonia report titled Health Systems in Action: North Macedonia, it is emphasized that the country has started to take coordinated steps to reduce irrational antibiotics usage and strengthen the system towards antimicrobial resistance monitoring. The WHO states that antibiotics are life-saving medications, but their misuse contributes to the appearance of multi-resistant organisms threatening to reduce their usefulness. According to data from the report, e-health interventions have played a key role in the country’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic since early 2020. “A digital registry of healthcare workers was instated, a tele-medicine module enabling remote checkups was created, phone consultations were a regular occurrence, and e-prescriptions for patients with chronic diseases became available,” says the press release detailing parts of the WHO’s report for this country. Catastrophic health spending is mainly due to private healthcare, according to the report. Low-income citizens are less likely to get the healthcare they need. The WHO compliments North Macedonia’s progress in “extremely complex conditions” and says that it’s important to note that these accomplishments were made during a global pandemic, which hit North Macedonia harder than many other countries, especially during the second and third wave. dk/ik/