State-level Action Plans Needed To Combat Antimicrobial Resistance

Hyderabad: G-Sparc (Global South Conference on Infection Prevention, Control and Antimicrobial Stewardship) has called for development and implementation of State-level Action Plans for containment of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in India by 2026.

For containment of AMR in India, 21 recommendations under the Hyderabad Declaration and two White Papers on State Action Plans, was presented at G-Sparc 2024, a platform for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), AMR, and Patient Safety. More than 2,000 delegates attended the three-day Global South conference. G-Sparc was organised by the Infection Control Academy of India, University of Hyderabad, and Pragyaan Sustainable Health Outcomes Foundation (PRASHO).

Listing highlights from the 21 recommendations, G-Sparc organisers said that AMR is a man-made disaster which has to be fought by concerted action. “G-Sparc calls for India’s remaining States and union territories to develop and implement state-level Action Plans by 2026. Every health facility must have an Infection, Prevention, Control and AMR committee. Moreover, adequate funding should be earmarked for awareness campaigns,” an official release mentioned.

From a global perspective, the healthcare experts suggested that atleast 60 per cent of the countries should fund national action plans on AMR by 2030. For which, the high-income countries in the world can allocate a healthy proportion of their GDP to help Global South countries in containing AMR. “The Global Anti-Microbial Resistance Multi-Partner Trust Fund mooted by the UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) should prioritise countries of the Global South. In addition, UNGA should target that atleast 70 per cent of antibiotics used for human health globally should belong to the WHO Access Group Antibiotics, with relatively minimal side effects and potential to cause AMR,” the experts added in the recommendation.