{"id":42032,"date":"2025-04-25T21:05:12","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T15:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=42032"},"modified":"2025-06-24T16:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T11:19:08","slug":"india-combating-antimicrobial-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/25-04-2025\/india-combating-antimicrobial-resistance","title":{"rendered":"Combating Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS 2\/Health\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Experts have raised concerns about the <strong>overuse of the potent antibiotic ceftazidime-avibactam,<\/strong> leading to reduced efficacy and <strong>increased drug resistance<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)&nbsp; was urged to establish strict regulations to prevent misuse.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Antimicrobials (including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics) are used to treat infections in humans, animals, and plants.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when pathogens no longer respond to these medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, illness, disability, and death.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>AMR is a natural process but is accelerated by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals, and plants.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns&nbsp;<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India has one of the highest burdens of<strong> bacterial infections in the world.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing<strong> public health crisis<\/strong> that threatens the effectiveness of antibiotics, leading to <strong>longer hospital stays, intensive care, and higher mortality rates.<\/strong>&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is a complex issue influenced by factors such as<strong> overuse of antibiotics in humans, animals, and agriculture<\/strong>, along with inadequate infection control and sanitation.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Socio-economic factors like <strong>poverty and lack of clean water further exacerbate the problem.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Efforts Made by India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India is actively addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through expanded <strong>genomic surveillance <\/strong>and collaboration between key government bodies like Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recent breakthroughs, such as <strong>novel antibiotics <\/strong>like cefepime-enmetazobactam, cefepime-zidebactam, nafithromycin, and levodifloxacin, offer new treatment options for <strong>multidrug-resistant pathogens.&nbsp;<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These developments help reduce reliance on last-resort antibiotics like carbapenems and colistin.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The<strong> Red Line Campaign<\/strong> was launched to create a public awareness drive to label prescription-only antibiotics with a red line.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>ICMR promotes <strong>Antibiotic Stewardship Programs (ASPs) in hospitals.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion and Way Forward<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>India is leveraging its strong biotech ecosystem, high burden of infectious diseases, and capacity for affordable manufacturing to address the urgent need for new antibiotics to<strong> combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>By combining these strengths, India can accelerate its AMR fight and improve global access, especially for low- and middle-income countries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>India\u2019s success in this fight will depend on harnessing innovation across healthcare, governance, and society.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>By implementing the right policies, infrastructure, and supporting entrepreneurs, India can lead the global effort against AMR, setting an example for the world in tackling this critical public health threat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The use of antibiotics in food and animal production should be optimized, and there should be more careful consideration in using antimicrobial treatments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><strong>Further Reading:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-06-2025\/amr-insect-livestock-feed\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-06-2025\/amr-insect-livestock-feed\">Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) with Insect-Based Livestock Feed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: TH<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>In News<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Experts have raised concerns about the overuse of the potent antibiotic ceftazidime-avibactam, leading to reduced efficacy and increased drug resistance.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)<\/strong><\/h3>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Antimicrobials (including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics) are used to treat infections in humans, animals, and plants.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when pathogens no longer respond to these medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, illness, disability, and death.\u00a0<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/25-04-2025\/india-combating-antimicrobial-resistance\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42032"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46112,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42032\/revisions\/46112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}