India launches strategy to curb antimicrobial resistance

• Published in: BMJ (Online) Vol. 357; p. j2049
• Main Author: Dutta, Sumi S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 26-04-2017
• Subjects: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - economics; Anti-Bacterial Agents - therapeutic use; Antibiotics; Antimicrobial agents; Antimicrobial resistance; Bacterial infections; Bacterial Infections - epidemiology; Drug resistance; Drug Resistance, Bacterial - drug effects; Humans; India - epidemiology; Infections; Klebsiella; Klebsiella pneumoniae; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus - drug effects; Prescription Drug Misuse - adverse effects; Prescription Drug Misuse - prevention & control; Public Health Surveillance; Staphylococcus aureus; Strategic Planning; Surveillance; World Health Organization; United States > US; India
• ISSN: 0959-8138; 1756-1833
• DOI: 10.1136/bmj.j2049

The National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2017-21) is the first to assign coordinated tasks to multiple government agencies involving health, education, environment, and livestock to change prescription practices and consumer behaviour and to scale up infection control and antimicrobial surveillance. Health officials said that the plan aims to tackle longstanding concerns that antibiotic misuse in the human and animal health sectors in India is contributing to antimicrobial resistance that threatens public health in India and other countries. The plan follows a call by the World Health Organization to member states to have national plans in place by 2017, aligned with a global action plan adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2015.