AMR Requires a Double-Barreled Approach:Political and Economic Support Essential.

By Hamu Madzedze

Online Journalist-Zimbabwe

Governments interventions with new funding mechanisms are crucial to addressing the global challenges posed by drug-resistant infections.

This critical insight was unveiled in a recent briefing paper, summarising a high-level discussion at the World Health Assembly held in anticipation of the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance(AMR) this year.

The brief was co-authored by the workshop host, the Ministry of Interior and Health of Denmark along with other stakeholders who included the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solution (ICARS) ,Novo Nordisk Foundation and the AMR Action Fund.

Participants stressed the importance of fine-tuning funding mechanisms both existing and new to efficiently address AMR ,and urged a significant escalation of current efforts to counter its effects.

"The economic challenges posed by Antimicrobial Resistant(AMR )are multifaceted just as the biological complexities of the microbes"said the participants.

The participants highlighted that financing of AMR has been one of the areas that has not made much progress since the AMR Declaration in 2016

"During the discussion participants called for a globally coordinated robust ,and financially prioritised response to tackle AMR.

However ,governments were urged to commit domestic resources towards the fight against AMR taking into account the national contexts with multiple competing challenges and priorities.

The World Health Organisation has listed AMR among the top 10 global health threats and according to recent estimates in 2019 1.27 million deaths were directly attributed to drug-resistant infections globally.

According to the UN Environment Programme failure to address AMR could result in a staggering 3.4 trillion United States dollar loss in GDP and an increase of 24 million more people living in extreme poverty by the end of the decade.

AMR occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria ,viruses , parasites or fungi become resistant to antimicrobial treatments to which they were previously susceptible.

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