Hasina calls for global effort to fight ‘ominous’ development of antibiotic resistance

Sheikh Hasina has called for global efforts to fight antimicrobial resistance through coordinated actions to raise awareness against widespread use of antibiotics.

The prime minister made the call at the virtual launch of ‘One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance’ as a co-chair on Friday.

She hoped that the Leaders’ Group will be successful to mainstream the vital health issue in all important discourses contributing to the united global effort to fight the “ominous” development of antibiotic resistance.

“Prevention is better than cure. So, I would call upon the global leaders to make this timely initiative successful by providing advocacy, technical and financial support for effective implementation of the recommendations of the‘ Inter Agency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance’ to address the global antimicrobial resistance crisis,” she said.

Hasina added there is no doubt that antimicrobial resistance has become a global public health challenge both for humans and animals.

“Endangering food production is leading us towards catastrophic result. We are running out of available antibiotics and soon could face another global emergency, far severe than the current COVID-19 pandemic,” she warned.

“This menace has the potential of rolling back most of our medical and therapeutic successes achieved through scientific advancements over the ages.”

The prime minister identified unnecessary use of antibiotics, wrong doses and overall poor infection prevention as the reasons behind the “grave situation”.

Inspired by the WHO Global Action Plan in 2015, Bangladesh has formulated the

“National Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance Containment 2017–2022”, according to her.

“This document and its associated ‘Roadmap’ speak about our government’s policy thrust and commitment to address AMR. This is an important component of our efforts to ensure universal health for all in our country.

“Now we need worldwide coordinated actions to monitor the nature of infections, to implement required control measures and to raise global awareness against widespread use of antibiotics,” she said.

Hasina continued the world should also ensure affordable access to new antibiotics by all.

For this to happen, she called for increased internationally coordinated investment for more research for inventing new generation of antibiotics.