Antimicrobial Resistance: A Serious Threat to Public Health

Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial agents. Drug resistance makes it harder or impossible to treat infections and render antibiotics and other antimicrobial treatments ineffective, raising the risk of disease transmission, serious illness, and death.

The problem is global, but being highest producer and consumer of antimicrobials, India faces a greater risk. Over-prescription of antibiotics and limited regulatory restriction contributes significantly towards development of AMR in India. Availability of over-the-counter antibiotics adds to the AMR burden to a greater extent. India’s antimicrobial resistance issue is further exacerbated by a lack of awareness, limited use of diagnostic tools, overcrowding, cross-infections, and inadequate health infrastructure.

According to WHO data, bacterial AMR is reported to have contributed to 4.95 million fatalities worldwide in 2019 and has been directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths. Apart from death and disability, AMR has substantial financial consequences.

We recently observed ‘Anti-microbial Resistance Awareness Week’ from November 18th to 24th. The theme for this year was “Educate, Advocate, Act Now”. It prompts us all to think, “How did we reach this stage where raising awareness about AMR among the public and healthcare workers has become necessary?”

Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health concern. Due to resistance to antimicrobial agents, controlling the spread of microbes has become  difficult, posing a serious threat to human lives. Microbes are increasingly developing resistance to the majority of available antibiotics. This could encourage the emergence of “Superbugs”, and we have no effective measures to curtail them.

Government of India started many initiatives to control AMR. Antibiotic stewardship program (AMSP) implementation has been made mandatory in India. Nevertheless, implementation faces numerous chal-lenges due to limited resources.

Raising awareness among public and healthcare workers regarding AMR would be the first step in successful implementation of AMSP. The National antibiotic policy should be released every year. The regional bodies can adopt the same with modifications based on local resistance pattern. The government should implement more stringent and regular monitoring of antibiotic resistance patterns. Over-the-counter availability must be completely restricted. Various other approaches required to close the gap include policies and regulations for antibiotic usage in healthcare centers, enhancing hospital infection control, and strengthening surveillance and antibiotic stewardship programs.

The time to act is NOW. With very limited antibiotics in pipeline, it is crucial to save the existing antibiotics for future generations.