Kerala drafts new policy on Antibiotic Resistance

Contributed by Siddarth D & Dr. Tamhankar

In an effort to curb the health issue of antibiotic resistance, the Kerala government has formulated a new antibiotic stewardship programme. Under this every public and private health facility would have to prepare  antibiogram which detailing the proportion of individual bacterial pathogens susceptible to different antimicrobial agents within the health facility.

The move is aimed at not only taking stock of the antibiotic resistance in the state but also build awareness among both public and private doctors, hospital staff and patients as  well as the larger community on this critical health issue.  The government spokesperson stated that the move is planned as "the increasing and often irrational use of these expensive drugs in hospitals is one of the reasons for the increasing out-of-pocket expenditure on health".

The State Health Department, in consultation with various professional organisations, has already prepared a draft policy and treatment guidelines, which will be finalized at an international symposium on antibiotic resistance to be held on January 23 in Kochi. The final draft policy and the nature of the antibiogram prepared will be put up on the Health Department website for the public’s response with a high power committee reviewing it and adopting necessary changes. This pioneering effort by the Kerala government is the step in right direction for rationalizing the use of antibiotics in India. It is also a call for other state governments to take similar steps in their respective states. 

Access and Resistance: The Double Challenge of Antibiotics in India

Contributed by Siddarth D & Dr. Tamhankar

India is one of the top consumers of antibiotics in the world but it still has sections of the population who don't have adequate access to antibiotics that can treat preventable diseases such as pneumonia.

The Lancet article titled, “Access to effective antimicrobials: A worldwide challenge” conducted by the Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy (CDDEP) reports that India can prevent nearly 80 percent of its pneumonia mortally especially among children by improving access to antibiotics. Paradoxically, in India antimicrobial resistance is also a key health challenge due in overuse of antibiotics. The paper states that only around 1/10th of the children under the age of five in India are been treated with antibiotics for pneumonia.

Dr. Narayan Laxminarayan from the CDDEP points out that "...for human health lack of access to essential and lifesaving medicines is as important as the issue of antibiotic resistance. Talking of the challenge of antibiotic resistance in isolation won’t help when even today we have large sections of people without access to medicines." This highlights the need to contextualize the approach of rational-use of antibiotics in India to address both lack of access as well as overuse of antibiotics