Kamini Walia: The growing scourge of anti-microbial resistance needs urgent attention

By Dilip -

Ever since the pandemic struck, concerns have been raised about the improper use of antimicrobials amongst Covid-19 patients. The worry is that unnecessary prescription of antimicrobials will lead to a further increase in the already high levels of drug resistance in most parts of the world. In the past few years, alarmingly high resistance rates in pathogens of public health importance have been reported from Indian hospitals. Unfortunately, the resistance rates reported by the hospitals and laboratories do not automatically translate to disease burden unless each resistant isolate is correlated with the clinical outcomes in the patients from whom they were isolated. This has to do with inadequate hospital information systems in most public sector funded healthcare facilities in India and many low-middle income countries.

In 2014, economist Jim O’ Neill estimated that 10 million annual deaths from AMR could occur by 2050. Studies such as the ones conducted by him paved the way for the consolidation of the Global Action Plan in 2015 and the UN Resolution on AMR in 2016. However, nothing changed on the ground. National Action Plans against AMR, including the one in India, have not been translated into coherent action. The major impediment to AMR containment is that the most affected countries have the least data on the burden posed by this malaise….

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/growing-scourge-anti-microbial-resistance-urgent-attention-7798079/


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