MoS Anupriya Patel seeks urgent action against ‘antimicrobial resistance’, ET HealthWorld
New Delhi: Antimicrobial Resistance, or AMR, is a global health threat that needs urgent action through a ‘One Health’ approach with cooperation across human, animal, and plant health, Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel said on Saturday. Patel was addressing the 4th Ministerial High-level Global Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In her speech, she emphasised the importance of surveillance, collaboration, and addressing critical barriers to “antimicrobial access” as she outlined a set of steps to implement the commitments made in the declaration on AMR.
“India proposes a comprehensive approach aimed at improving AMR detection and surveillance capacities across sectors, enabling the use of data to guide evidence-based antimicrobial usage at both local and national levels. This would lay the foundation for the creation of integrated and inter-operable surveillance systems across sectors,” she said.
India proposes to prioritise sustainable financing and research investments to enhance governance in the fight against AMR.
It also supports the creation of an AMR Multi-partner Trust Fund and the establishment of an Independent Panel on Evidence for Action against AMR by the quadripartite organisations in 2025.
Patel called for increased support to member states in strengthening sectoral and multisectoral collaboration, particularly through the quadripartite joint secretariat.
“India also stresses the importance of addressing barriers to the access and affordability of antimicrobials, diagnostics, and vaccines in developing nations, especially in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs). One key solution proposed is the establishment of local or regional manufacturing hubs and the strengthening of regulatory mechanisms to ensure equitable access,” Patel said.
She also highlighted the need for robust statistical modelling to calculate baseline rates of AMR-related deaths, and help member states track progress towards the global target of reducing AMR-related deaths by 10 per cent as committed in the UNGA Political Declaration.
“India remains committed to supporting global efforts in combating AMR while ensuring that solutions are context-specific and sustainable,” she said.
The theme of the conference was ‘From Declaration to Implementation – Accelerating Actions Through Multisectoral Partnerships for the Containment of AMR.’
The ‘Jedda Commitments’ issued at the conference resolved to translate the Political Declaration from the UNGA HLM on AMR into practical commitments for urgent action, inter alia, committing to create national AMR multi-sectoral coordinating bodies respecting the multipronged One-Health challenges.
The coordinating bodies, in the form of National AMR Committees, will include representatives of relevant government departments, agencies, appropriate legislative bodies, the private sector and civil society, to fully implement and ensure the funding and monitoring of National Action Plans.
