A Manifesto for Tackling the Silent Pandemic of AMR
Context:
- As a vulnerable country and the current G-20 president, India is vital in ensuring that AMR remains high on the global health agenda.
Introduction:
- The exceedingly hazardous but undetected antimicrobial resistance (AMR) pandemic is, tragically, here to stay, while the COVID-19 pandemic is still in its acute phase.
- Most countries acknowledged the COVID-19 threat as apparent and present in 2020, which compelled governments—including India’s—to take prompt and accurate action. To combat the rapidly rising AMR rates, a swift, multi-sectoral, international, and national response is also required.
Antimicrobial resistance, or AMR:
- According to the World Health Organization, AMR is among the top 10 health risks (WHO).
- Antimicrobial drugs used to treat infections can become resistant to all microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc.).
- Over time, a microorganism might evolve and cease responding to treatment, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, serious illness, and death.
One issue with AMR is that:
- Medical personnel now face a challenge from disease-causing microbes that have evolved treatment resistance, despite the fact that new pharmaceuticals have revolutionised human healthcare in recent years. The global public health response is in peril because to the growing abuse and overuse of antibiotics in both humans and animals.
- Microbial resistance to medicines has made it more difficult to treat infections like pneumonia, tuberculosis (TB), blood poisoning (septicemia), and many food-borne illnesses.
- AMR extends hospital stays, results in medical problems, and delays recovery, all of which have a significant financial impact on the patient’s health.
- For patients having invasive surgeries and treatments like chemotherapy, it raises the risk. People regularly endure difficult medical procedures but succumb to incurable infections.
- AMR puts a strain on a country’s healthcare infrastructure and raises the burden of communicable diseases. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) reported in 2022 that the prevalence of broad-spectrum antibiotic resistance is increasing by 5% to 10% annually.
India and the Muscat Conference:
- The Muscat Manifesto acknowledged the need to hasten political commitments to One Health action in order to stop the development of AMR.
- It also highlighted the need to deal with the effects of AMR on environmental health, food security, economic growth, and human and animal health.
- The primary health objectives of the conference were to reduce the total amount of antimicrobials used in the agri-food system by at least 30% to 50% by 2030, eliminate the use of antimicrobials that are medically important for human health in animals and food production by 2030, and ensure that by 2030 at least 60% of all antibiotics consumed by humans come from the WHO “Access” group of antibiotics.
- India has promised to increase surveillance and assist the development of novel medications. It also aims to enhance private sector participation and data reporting to the WHO Global Antibiotic Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) and other standard systems.
High degrees of resistance:
- WHO has been paying increasing attention to the alarmingly high incidence of antibiotic resistance among patients globally.
- The global TB epidemic has been significantly harmed by multidrug resistance; patients now have a 60% probability of recovery.
- The Muscat Manifesto’s solution to the AMR problem appears to be these three revolutionary objectives. The manifesto urges governments to uphold the One Health tenet while prioritising their national action plans for AMR.
Comparing policy to practise:
- The National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance emphasised the success of government initiatives for hand hygiene and sanitation programmes, including Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Kayakalp, and Swachh Swasth Sarvatra (2017–21).
- Also, the government has made an effort to increase public awareness of healthier and better ways to produce food, notably in the animal food industry.
- The National Health Policy of 2017 contains explicit instructions on how to utilise antibiotics, in addition to regulating their use as over-the-counter medications and banning or restricting their use for enhancing animal growth.
Moving ahead:
- At the many G-20 health summits that will take place through 2023, India has the opportunity to ensure that all aspects of AMR are discussed and that governments commit to progress.
- Some crucial areas for action include the following: Phenotypic and genotypic surveillance of priority pathogens and data sharing, including through the WHO’s GLASS platform; regulatory and policy action to stop the use of antibiotics essential for human health in animals; prohibition of the use of antibiotics to promote animal growth; increased government investment in research and innovation for new antibiotics; and investigation of the use of vaccines to prevent certain infections caused by AMR organisms in humans.
