Anti-Microbial Resistance ‘is a priority agenda’

Islamabad: The Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation and the Centres for Disease Control, USA, is developing a roadmap for Global Health Security Agenda under which Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) has been identified as a priority area for action. The ministry is collaborating with other stakeholders, organisations and professional societies to undertake various initiatives such as development of antibiotic stewardship programme and guidelines on AMR, as well as capacity enhancement of AMR-related laboratory diagnostics.

Minister of State for Health Saira Afzal made this statement while addressing a group of health ministers participating in the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Monday. Saira called upon countries to make a united effort in combating AMR, which is posing a major public challenge.

“Pakistan has a huge burden of multi-resistance bacterial infections, leading to significant mortality and morbidity and limiting options for treating infectious diseases. As such, the Ministry of Health has declared AMR containment a priority agenda. The government of Pakistan also support the goal of Global Action Plan to ensure, for as long as possible, continuity of successful treatment and prevention of infectious diseases with effective and safe medicines that are quality-assured, used in a responsible way, and accessible to all who need them,” Saira stated.

Saira informed the ministers that Pakistan has accordingly initiated several key initiatives to address the issue of AMR in the light of the strategic objective of the WHO Global Action Plan on the subject. These include designation of a national focal point, notification of multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary AMR oversight committee, and development of a National AMR Containment Policy through a consultative process.