Terming antimicrobial resistance as the number one public health challenge before the world, the government on Tuesday made a strong pitch for non-rational use of antibiotics.
Terming antimicrobial resistance as the number one public health challenge before the world, the government on Tuesday made a strong pitch for non-rational use of antibiotics.
“AMR has emerged as the number one public health challenge faced by the world today. The first step in addressing the problem of AMR is to avoid the need for antibiotics at all in the first place,” Union health minister J.P. Nadda said while inaugurating a three-day international conference on combating AMR.
“This is best done through improved water and sanitation, in the absence of which proliferation of diarrhoeal diseases results in inappropriate antibiotic use,” the Union health minister said.
The WHO too on Tuesday pitched for strong measures by the governments to stop the availability of antibiotics over the counters. “Governments must take strong measures to stop over-the-counter availability of antibiotics, while strengthening and enforcing legislation to prevent the manufacture, sale and distribution of substandard antibiotics.”
“These measures must be accompanied by campaigns to make behavioural and cultural changes in prescribers and patients so that antibiotics are no longer considered the first treatment option. If enough was not done now, common bacterial infections such as skin sores or diarrhoea would become untreatable and fatal,” regional director, WHO South-East Asia, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh said on Tuesday.
Globally, around 7,00,000 people die every year due to once-treatable health conditions.
In South-East Asia, health sector gaps, coupled with dense populations and sub-optimal sanitation, contributes to a breeding ground for bacterial infections, she said, adding that “this is already leading to loss of lives, long-term suffering, disability, and reduced productivity and earnings.” In May last year, the World Health Assembly adopted a resolution and endorsed a Global Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance.
She called for stronger commitment for building momentum within the countries of the region to reverse antimicrobial resistance.
