National Event for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week

In commemoration of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, the Ministry of Health together with the World Health Organization, Department of Animal Production and Health and partners, held an event on 23 November to raise awareness and inspire continued leadership on the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) agenda.

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is a global campaign that is celebrated annually from 18 to 24 November to strengthen awareness and understanding of AMR. The campaign promotes best practices among the public, One Health stakeholders and policymakers - who all have a critical role to play in reducing the emergence and spread of AMR.

Antimicrobial resistance is a global health and development threat. AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, rendering antibiotics and other antimicrobials ineffective. This makes infections harder or impossible to treat, resulting in an increased risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.

This year’s theme “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together” recognizes the health security threat posed by antimicrobial resistance as cutting across all sectors including the health, agriculture, animal health, fisheries, and environment sectors, and urges united and coordinated multisectoral actions in response. Inappropriate use of antibiotics in the healthcare system, overuse or misuse of antibiotics in the animal and fisheries sector, lack of access to clean water and sanitation facilities for both humans and animals, poor Infection Prevention and Control measures in healthcare facilities and farms, and limited access to quality and affordable medicines, vaccines and diagnostics are all key drivers of AMR.

Antimicrobial resistance is occurring everywhere in the world, compromising our ability to treat infectious diseases, as well as undermining many other advances in health and medicine. AMR is estimated to have claimed 1.27 million deaths globally in 2019[1]. The cost of AMR to national economies is also very heavy - through prolonged hospital stays, more expensive intensive care and even disability and death. Moreover, AMR has the potential to push 28.3 million more people into extreme poverty by 2050. [2]

“Recognising that the South-East Asia Region is highly vulnerable to the threats of AMR, the Heath Ministers of the Region adopted the Jaipur Declaration on AMR in 2011 calling for targeted efforts against AMR,” said Mr. Janaka Sri Chandraguptha, Secretary of Health, Ministry of Health speaking at the event. “Since then, Sri Lanka has implemented several initiatives to avert the crisis.”

Dr. K.A.C.H.A. Kothalawala, the Director General, Department of Animal Production and Health also addressed the event and provided a brief on the activities of the Department in combatting AMR. The Government of Sri Lanka has banned the use of antimicrobials as growth promoters in animals since 2018. Additionally, the Department of Animal Production and Health continues to conduct strict surveillance on the use of antimicrobials in the animal sector. The College of Microbiologists also shared learnings from their work towards combatting AMR leveraging guidelines, stewardship programmes and infection prevention and control measures.

The Ministry of Health together with WHO, the College of Microbiologists and other stakeholders conducted an island-wide communications campaign targeting healthcare workers, the public and key stakeholders to improve awareness of AMR and encourage best practices in combatting antimicrobial resistance. Some of the activities conducted during the campaign include: an online quiz for microbiologist students across 11 national universities; dissemination of information, education and communication (IEC) materials with key public health messages on AMR; a survey to evaluate the use of Antimicrobial Guidelines among Sri Lankan doctors and a poster competition for university students on the theme of ‘Preventing antimicrobial resistance together’.

Increasing awareness on AMR among key stakeholders is critical to addressing AMR which has been recognised by WHO as one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity. “No single sector can take on the threat posed by AMR alone, our efforts need to cut across all sectors of society to drive decisive action.  WHO strongly advocates an intensive whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach to prevent and combat antimicrobial resistance,” said Dr Shalala Ahmadova, Public Health Administrator, WHO Country Office Sri Lanka.

A global action plan to address the growing threat of AMR was endorsed at the Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly in May 2015. The plan has five strategic objectives and one of them aims to increase awareness and understanding of AMR through effective communication, education and training. WHO works closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, the World Organisation for Animal Health, and the UN Environment Programme to ensure integrated and cohesive responses to the growing challenge to address AMR. In March 2022, these four agencies signed a ground-breaking agreement to strengthen cooperation to sustainably balance and optimise the health of humans, animals, plants and the environment.

WHO in Sri Lanka continues to work with the Government to develop robust national strategies to tackle this issue.  WHO Sri Lanka is providing technical support for the end-term review of the National Strategic Plan on AMR 2017 – 2022 to identify best practices to be scaled up as well as key gaps in the national response. Insights from this exercise will be leveraged to develop the next Strategic Plan on AMR for 2023 – 2027 to guide all stakeholders, including the public, in driving collaborative interventions to address risk factors of AMR and implement new initiatives to reduce the inappropriate use of antimicrobials. WHO will also support strengthening AMR surveillance and reporting to global platforms to ensure high-quality data on the incidence, prevalence and geographical patterns related to AMR are available to inform and monitor national interventions. Support will also be provided to establish an antimicrobial consumption cell at the Medical Supplies Division to improve understanding of antibiotic consumption in the hospital system and strengthen antimicrobial stewardship in the country.

In line with this year’s theme of “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together” WHO calls on all sectors to work together through a One Health approach in tackling this global threat today for the sake of future generations.