Context: Findings of the new study by researchers at the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) on Antibiotic prescription rates in India has been published.
What is Antibiotic Resistance?
- Antibiotic resistance jeopardizes health, medical procedures, and food security, imperiling progress and sustainability worldwide.
- Antibiotic resistance can affect anyone, of any age, making infections harder to treat and endangering medical progress.
- Antibiotic resistance occurs naturally, but misuse of antibiotics in humans and animals is accelerating the emergence of resistant strains.
- A growing number of infections are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics used against them become less effective.
- Antibiotic resistance leads to longer hospital stays, higher medical costs, and increased mortality rates, posing a critical healthcare challenge.
How Does it Occur?
How it Spread?
Why antibiotic resistance a Big Deal?
The discovery of antibiotics less than a century ago was a turning point in public health that has saved countless lives. Although antibiotic resistance develops naturally with normal bacterial mutation, humans are speeding it up by using antibiotics improperly. According to a research, now, 2 million people a year in the US develop antibiotic-resistant infections, and 23,000 of them die of those infections.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is afraid of a post-antibiotic world, where loads of bacteria are superbugs. Already, infections like tuberculosis, gonorrhea, and pneumonia are becoming harder to treat with typical antibiotics.
The “Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance” has 5 strategic objectives:
- To improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial
- To strengthen surveillance and
- To reduce the incidence of
- To optimize the use of antimicrobial
- To ensure sustainable investment in countering antimicrobial
Need of the hour:
- A multi-stakeholder approach, involving private industry, philanthropic groups and citizen activists is needed.
- Private pharmaceutical industries must take it upon themselves to distribute drugs in a responsible manner.
- Philanthropic charities must fund the development of new antibiotics, while citizen activists must drive awareness.
- These stakeholders must appreciate that the only way to postpone resistance is through improved hygiene and vaccinations.
Antibiotic Resistance – Pre Facts, Antibiotic Resistance – Pre Facts
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