xxii.2. Conclusion
- AMR has emerged as the number one public health challenge faced by the world today.
- Through the International Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance, India shows her willingness to work with the other Member States to achieve the common goal of Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) containment.
- India adopted the redline campaign when the consumption of antibiotics in India has increased sharply while the effectiveness of these drugs to treat bacterial infections has been steadily declining.
- In the final reports of the Global Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, India had appreciated for Medicines with the Red Line campaign on antibiotics. The global review was commissioned by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron in 2014 and was chaired by economist Jim O’Neil.
- India’s idea of Medicines with the red line is now being cited as a model that can be used globally to counter the rising threat of superbugs.
- The WHO Global Strategy defines the appropriate use of antimicrobials as the cost-effective use of antimicrobials that maximizes clinical therapeutic effect while minimizing both drug-related toxicity and the development of antimicrobial resistance.
- Any intervention to limit access by enforcing prescription-only laws unwittingly cuts off a vast majority of the population, particularly in rural areas, that lacks access to doctors.