Integrating Behavioral Insights and Herbal Medicine Awareness to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a major global health challenge driven by behavioral, clinical, and environmental factors within the One Health continuum. This chapter examines antibiotic-related behaviors among patients and prescribing practices among physicians at Azzamouri Provincial Hospital in Kenitra, Morocco, revealing limited knowledge, frequent self-medication, and structural barriers that contribute to irrational antibiotic use. It also highlights socioeconomic constraints, cognitive biases, and clinical pressures such as diagnostic uncertainty that influence inappropriate prescribing. The chapter explores the potential of scientifically supported herbal medicine, rooted in Morocco's ethnopharmacological heritage, as a culturally accepted complementary approach for managing mild infections and reducing unnecessary antimicrobial exposure.Integrating behavioral insights, stronger stewardship, and validated phytotherapy, it proposes an integrated One Health model to improve public awareness, support rational prescribing, and promote sustainable strategies to mitigate AMR.