FAO calls for renewed action on antibiotic resistance

Contributed by Dr. Tamhankar & Siddarth David

 

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that the overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents is impacting rural livelihoods and food security, and requires globally coordinated efforts and therefore needs strict attention. While resistance has mainly been as a public health issue its impact on livelihoods and food security has not really been recognized.

Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organization pointed out that the overuse and misuse of antibiotics foster increasing resistance among the very micro-organisms they were designed to quell, threatening to reverse a century of progress in human and animal health. She also observed that the risk of antimicrobial resistance appears to be particularly high in countries where legislation, surveillance, prevention and monitoring of antimicrobial resistance are weak or inadequate. Poor health outcomes effect livestock that play a critical role in agriculture, the mainstay of rural communities and thus the source food for the rest of the world.

This adds another layer of disastrous impacts due to antimicrobial resistance, pushing for better measures to address the problem.

New Bill tabled in US to address hospital acquired infections

Contributed by Siddarth David & Dr. Tamhankar

A senator Sheldon Whitehouse has tabled a new bill in the US "Patient Safety Improvement Act, 2016" that ensures reporting of hospital-acquired infections the National Healthcare Safety Network at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This legislation Improves communication and transparency by requiring hospitals to report HAIs to healthcare providers involved in a patient’s post-hospital care no later than 24 hours after diagnosis.

The bill aims to address the issue of antimicrobial stewardship to address the growing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in hospitals. This legislation will provide grants to develop antibiotic stewardship action plans and require hospitals to report antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance as part of a Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting Program.

Such legislations play a key role in better reporting and data collection on the extent of antibiotic resistance and use in countries and therefore develop country-specific strategies to address them. It is something that law makers in India could also look into and create legislations, given that antibiotic resistance is a crucial health concern and we don't have any national or regional systems of collecting information on antibiotic use in hospitals and clinics. Last week this blog had shared that Kerala has taken a step in this direction last week by drafting a bill for antibiotic stewardship in all tertiary public and private health facilities in the state.