Antimicrobial Resistance Threatens World Health, What Can Be Done? page all

KOMPAS.com – The world must be aware of health threats antimicrobial resistance which is one of the leading causes of death globally.

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time, so they no longer respond to a person’s medications.

This makes the infection more difficult to treat and increases the risk of spreading the disease, leading to severe illness and death.

Also read: Antimicrobial Resistance Leading Cause of Global Death in 2019, Study Explains

Because of that, resistance Antimicrobials are one of the most pressing public health threats and require immediate action.

There are simple steps that can be taken regarding antimicrobial resistance such as:

• Limiting quantity antibiotics given to animals
• Minimize prescription of antibiotics if not necessary
• Making sure the person on the prescription finishes the antibiotic
• Increasing drug research

According to the Head of Microbiology at the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Bangkok Professor Direk Limmathuraotsakul, antimicrobial resistance threatens health systems around the world.

“New data in the GRAM paper confirms the scale of antimicrobial resistance and its threat to health systems in Southeast Asia, and around the world,” he said in a written statement received by Kompas.com, Wednesday (26/1/2022).

“We now need to develop effective and comprehensive policies to respond to this threat.”

Health systems around the world are dependent on antibiotics. Resistance Antimicrobials threaten the ability of hospitals to keep patients safe from infection and undermine the ability of doctors to practice medically safely.

Also read: Don’t Take Antibiotics When You’re Sick, Here’s The Reason

Director of the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation Prof. Chris Murray said it was necessary to correct actions and encourage innovation to control the threat and avoid further deaths.

There are immediate actions that can help countries around the world protect their health systems from the threat of Antimicrobial Resistance, as follows:

1. Take greater action to monitor and control infections globally, nationally, and in individual hospitals.

2. Accelerate support for infection prevention and control, and expand access to vaccines, clean water and sanitation.

3. Optimizing the use of antibiotics that are not related to the treatment of human diseases, such as in food and animal production, and taking a One Health approach and recognizing the linkages between human and animal health.

4. Think more about the use of antimicrobial treatments, expand access to lifesaving antibiotics when needed, minimize use when they are not needed to improve human health, and act in accordance with the WHO Global Action Plan and AWaRe guidelines.

5. Increase funding at every stage of the development pathway for new antimicrobials targeting priority pathogens – from research to high priority bacteria, such as K. pneumoniae and E. coli, to securing access through innovative market solutions.

Also read: Over-the-counter and over-consumption of antibiotics increases the risk of antimicrobial resistance

Get updates news of choice and breaking news every day from Kompas.com. Let’s join the Telegram group “Kompas.com News Update”, how to click the link https://t.me/kompascomupdate, then join. You must first install the Telegram application on your cellphone.–