The growing scourge of anti-microbial resistance needs urgent attention

News: The concerns regarding increasing Antimicrobial Resistance due to improper use of antimicrobials have become graver ever since the covid pandemic.

In the past few years, alarmingly high resistance rates in pathogens of public health importance have been reported from Indian hospitals. Thus, it becomes important that the issue of AMR be given due importance.

Findings of GRAM(Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 204 countries and territories in 2019) report

1. 95 million people died from drug-resistant bacterial infections in 2019. AMR directly caused at least 1.27 million deaths.
2. Majority of the deaths from AMR are associated with bacteria E coli, followed by K pneumoniae, S aureus, A baumannii, S pneumoniae, and M tuberculosis.
3. Lower respiratory infections associated with resistance accounted for more than 1.5 million deaths.
4. Data specifically for India was not sufficiently available, but as per few available reports AMR burden in India may not look very different from the global estimate.

What are the reasons behind increasing AMR?

Firstly, unnecessary prescription of antimicrobials is increasing the already high levels of drug resistance.

Secondly, the major impediment to AMR containment is that the most affected countries have the least data on the burden posed by AMR. In India too, hospital information systems in most public sector funded healthcare facilities are inadequate.

Third, National Action Plan for AMR was approved in 2017. However, its results proved to be dismal. It faced many issues such as missing governance mechanisms and absence of funding

What are the suggestions to tackle the AMR problem?

A multipronged and multisectoral approach is required to tackle AMR.

Firstly, promoting the judicious use of existing antimicrobials.

Secondly, Developing new antimicrobial drugs.

Third, creating effective AMR containment plans by fixing responsibility and monitoring progress at the highest levels.

Fourth, some of the measures that have been proved effective must be used as much as possible, for example;

• Utilization of quality diagnostics and laboratories.
• Educating people about antimicrobials.
• Infection control in communities and hospitals.

Source: This post is created based on the article “The growing scourge of anti-microbial resistance needs urgent attention” published in Indian Express on 3^rd March.