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Study on new treatments for antimicrobial resistance begins

New Delhi: Aiming to develop new treatments for drug-resistant bacterial infections, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday started an observational study for antimicrobial resistance. The prime objective of the study is to provide guidance to stakeholders in the development of new treatments and reverse the global increase in deaths of newborns.

The initiative, which was officially kick-started by Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel in the present of ICMR DG Balram Bhargava, Niti Aayog Member Vinod Paul on Thursday, would be undertaken by Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP). The partnership is a joint initiative by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi.

Speaking on the occasion Patel said that antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development. "It's a major and rapidly growing public health problem globally, with estimates of up to 7 lakh deaths per year. AMR is threatening to compromise the gains we made as a country to control the infectious diseases like malaria, and tuberculosis," the minister said.

According to an official Press communiqué, over 80 researchers from 11 countries assembled together to understand sepsis in newborns and current antibiotic prescribing practices. In India, the ICMR while being a founding partner of DNDi has been instrumental in GARDP's set up and programmes in the country.

"Even though there has been 50 per cent reduction in child mortality since 1990, the number of preventable deaths in newborns remains unacceptably high. Neonatal deaths now represent 44 per cent of all deaths in children under the age of five. The situation is getting worse as it has been estimated that 2.14 lakh deaths in newborns are happening due to drug-resistant infections," the Press note stated.

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