FAISALABAD: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health and development threat that requires urgent multisectoral action in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This was stated by speakers at the International Symposium on “Antimicrobial Resistance”, arranged by Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF).
Chairing the inauguration session, WHO Representative/ Head of Mission Dr. Palitha Mahipala said that antimicrobial resistant organisms are found in people, animals, food, plants and the environment (in water, soil and air). He said that main drivers of antimicrobial resistance include the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials; lack of access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene for humans and animals; poor infection and disease prevention and control in health-care facilities, poor access to quality medicines, vaccines and diagnostics and lack of awareness and knowledge.
He said that WHO had launched the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) in 2015 to continue filling knowledge gaps and to inform strategies at all levels. He said that medical errors were a global health issue and challenge, which leads to many deaths worldwide.
WHO has come up with a Global Patient Safety Action Plan, which provides guidelines and safety measures to reduce practices that lead to harms to patients, he added. UAF Pro-Vice Chancellor/ Dean Faculty of Veterinary Sciences Prof Dr Anas Sarwar Qureshi said that AMR was one of the top 10 global public health threats to humanity.
He said that one health approach brings together multiple sectors and stakeholders engaged in human, terrestrial and aquatic animal and plant health, food and feed production and the environment to communicate and work together in the design and implementation of programmes, policies, legislation and research to attain better public health outcomes.
He said that misuse and overuse of antimicrobials are the main drivers in the development of drug-resistant pathogens. Institute of Microbiology Director Dr Sajjad ur Rehman said that for common bacterial infections, including urinary tract infections, and some forms of diarrhoea, high rates of resistance against antibiotics frequently used to treat these infections have been observed world-wide, indicating that we are running out of effective antibiotics. Prof Dr Timothy R Walsh from University of Oxford said that dreadful sanitation, uncontrolled use of antibiotics and overcrowding coupled with monitoring problem was causing antibiotic resistance.
He said that AMR is a complex problem that requires a united multisectoral approach. . He said that the cost of AMR to the economy is significant, in addition to death and disability, prolonged illness results in hospital stays and the need for more expensive medicines. Dr Mashkoor Mohsin, Prof Muhammad Hamnid Zaman, Prof Dr Aamer Ikram, Prof Sahiba Essack, Prof Rene S. Hendrikson, and other notables also spoke online.