Funds now available for national programme on rational use of antibiotics

Islamabad: Not everyone is aware that antibiotics need to be appropriately used to prevent the emergence of resistant superbugs. In view of the importance of this issue, the government has approved funding to launch the National Programme on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) at the National Institute of Health.

The Executive Director of NIH Prof. Aamer Ikram shared this piece of information while speaking as chair of a two-day national symposium on ‘Antimicrobial Resistance’ here Thursday. Organized by NIH, in collaboration with Fleming Fund Country Grant to Pakistan, the symposium provided a platform for stakeholders to sit together and introduce massive changes to present practices of the use of antimicrobial agents in human, animal and environmental health sectors under a collective One Health approach.

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the symposium was semi-virtual and centrally located in Islamabad. Parliamentary Secretary for Health Dr. Nausheen Hamid added, “The government is committed to playing its part in global disease control programmes more effectively and stands alongside the global community in their effort to reduce the burden of AMR, which is one of the biggest public health threats in the world today. “It represents the capability of microorganisms to evolve in such a manner as to render the antimicrobials we have long used against them ineffective,” she said.

As a commitment to the World Health Assembly Resolution 2015 (WHA68.7), Pakistan had developed its National AMR Framework, National Action Plan (NAP) and a multisectoral National AMR Steering Control Committee in 2017. “The government has approved funding to launch the National Programme on AMR at NIH,” Prof. Aamer said.

The National Action Plan lists AMR surveillance as one of seven priority areas. It includes upgradation of the public and animal health laboratories, capacity building of the laboratory staff working on AMR, development and implementation of AMR surveillance plans in both human and animal health sectors, and survey collection for development of AMC and AMU data baseline.

The UK-established Fleming Fund supports Pakistan to implement the AMR strategy within the country. This grant for AMR is intended to develop and implement a thorough plan on AMR surveillance capacity building involving the human and animal health sectors and other related stakeholders.