New Delhi: On Thursday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan emphasised the importance of a unified front in the fight against the spread of antibiotic resistance. At the inter-sectoral coordination committee meeting he presided over, he also broached the topic of the National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR). "There is no one solution to the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Bhushan stressed the importance of a unified mission mode approach from all parties involved because the problems and solutions involve several government and non-government agencies working together. He also stressed the importance of the partner ministries and departments working in a convergent mode with a whole of government approach to pool resources and knowledge for a thorough action plan with measurable KPIs. The measures adopted by the various ministries and departments for AMR prevention and control were also presented.
The health secretary chairs the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF), the Department of Biotechnology, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), the National Institute of Alternative Medicine and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, and the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change. The Centre has recognised anti-microbial resistance as a key goal in its National Health Policy, 2017, according to Lav Agarwal, additional secretary, health ministry; India's National Action Plan for containment of AMR (NAP-AMR) was announced in April of 2017. At the inauguration of NAP-AMR, the relevant ministries signed the Delhi Declaration on AMR, an inter-ministerial consensus expressing their full cooperation in AMR containment.
Given its significance on a worldwide scale, it is not surprising that AMR is one of India's G20 Health Working Group's top three goals.—Inputs from Agencies