World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week 2024

Nations come together in Jeddah to renew commitment to act against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) 

CSE director general Sunita Narain addresses High Level Ministerial Conference, says prevention is the best bet for countries
in the Global South 

• 57 countries including India discuss and approve ‘Jeddah Commitments’, a comprehensive framework for global action to combat AMR through One Health approach
• CSE highlights measures India should take to reduce and stop misuse and overuse of antibiotics  

CSE is marking the World AMR Awareness Week 2024 with a campaign on ‘Prevent AMR’. Check out all that we are doing click here  

New Delhi/Jeddah, November 19, 2024: “Prevention is the most effective way of fighting the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance – especially for low-and middle-income countries of the Global South. We do not have the luxury of indulging in rampant, unchecked use of antibiotics first and then spending a lot on trying to contain the damage. We must prevent, prevent and prevent to make growth more inclusive,” said Sunita Narain, director general of New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). 

Narain was addressing the 4^th Global High Level Ministerial Meeting on AMR, convened by the Ministry of Health of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from November 15-16, 2024 in Jeddah. Narain is a member of the Global Leader’s Group on AMR. 

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – antibiotic resistance in particular – is triggered and accelerated by misuse and overuse of antibiotics in human health, animal health and food production. The global urgency to act against AMR is because antibiotics are becoming ineffective to treat even common bacterial infections; those meant to save lives in hospitals and intensive care units are also failing. 

Says Amit Khurana, director, sustainable food systems programme in CSE: “In 2021, 4.7 million deaths were linked to antibiotic resistance and about 1.15 million deaths were directly caused by it. In India, nearly 0.3 million deaths were attributed to bacterial AMR or antibiotic resistance in 2019 and over a million deaths were associated with it. AMR is projected to claim lives of 39 million people globally between 2025 and 2050.” 

The Jeddah Commitment

Under the theme “From Declaration to Implementation – Accelerating Actions through Multisectoral Partnerships for the Containment of AMR’, the Jeddah conference aimed to take forward the ‘Political Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance’, adopted by 193 members states at the UN General Assembly of 2024. It brought together ministers and experts from the health, environment and agriculture sectors from 57 countries, in addition to 450 participants from UN organisations.   

Considering the challenges and possibilities in low-and middle-income countries, Narain stressed on three key interconnected agendas: “These are the ‘development agenda’ to promote sustainable food production and livestock management practices that eliminate reliance on growth promoters; the ‘prevention agenda’ to build food systems that do not depend on antimicrobial use and improve water supply systems to reduce contamination; and the ‘environmental agenda’ to minimise waste and reduce environmental contamination with antimicrobials.” 

The Jeddah meeting concluded with the approval of the Jeddah Commitments, which among others, included creating operational national AMR coordination mechanisms, ensuring prudent and responsible use of antimicrobials, establishment of a One Health AMR Learning Hub that will focus on sharing best practices and developing capabilities on the practical implementation of multisectoral national action plans on AMR. 

India also emphasised that AMR needs urgent action through the One Health approach for cooperation across human, animal and plant health as well as environmental sectors. Among others, it also proposed a comprehensive approach aimed at improving AMR detection and surveillance capacities across sectors. 

What’s India doing?

Says Khurana: “India’s second phase of national AMR action plan is being worked upon for many years. The first plan that ended in 2021 did not see much success. The new plan is expected to be well costed, funded with clear ownership and accountability. It should soon be made public as it will also reflect India’s plan to meet commitments made at global level.” 

India is a big producer and exporter of food from animals such as milk, eggs, fish and poultry meat, which makes keeping a check on antibiotic misuse and overuse important in these sectors. In the 3^rd ministerial conference of Oman in 2022, India had endorsed the Muscat Manifesto, which included targets such as reducing the total amount of antimicrobials used in agri-food systems by at least 30-50 per cent by 2030. It also included zero use of medically important antimicrobials for human medicine, in animals or in crop production and agri-food systems. 

In the UNGA Political Declaration on AMR, India has committed to strive to meaningfully reduce, by 2030, the quantity of antimicrobials used globally in the agri-food system from the current level. 

Rajeshwari Sinha, programme manager, sustainable food systems, CSE says: “To meet the commitments, India will need a roadmap to scale up preventive approaches such as related to animal housing, antibiotic alternatives, vaccines, biosecurity and resilient breeds that help reduce the occurrence of disease in food-animal farms and the need for antibiotics at its first place. It also needs a long-term approach to reduce dependence on intensive industrial systems and promote local, decentralised food systems supported by backyard farming.” 

CSE researchers highlight that India is among the few countries in the world which does not prohibit the use of antibiotics as growth promoters through chicken feed. In fact, chicken feed is not regulated under any law. 

Specifically, says Khurana, “India needs to phase out antibiotic use as growth promoters; phase out mass routine use of antibiotics for the so-called ‘disease prevention’; phase out the use of critical antibiotics that save human lives in hospitals.” 

CSE researchers also pointed towards a recent positive move: the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), in October 2024, has banned the use of certain antibiotics in food animal production. Earlier, colistin, a critically important antibiotic for human use, was banned for animal use. 

The researchers have also highlighted that despite having standards for antibiotic residues for food from animals for many years, the FSSAI has failed to assure consumers if the eggs, meat and fish available in Indian markets are free from antibiotic residues. In fact, in 2018, the Authority had found antibiotic residues in milk. 

For additional information, interviews etc, please contact Sukanya Nair of The CSE Media Resource Centre, sukanya.nair@cseindia.org, 8816818864.