World Health Day 7th April - 2011

Antimicrobial resistance: no action today, no cure tomorrow 

“Every government should have a national intersectoral plan on how to address the issue and respond to it.”Clinicians agree that one of the biggest challenges is finding out the true size of the problem of resistant infections in each country. “We need better microbiology labs to test antibiotic resistance to infections but above all we need better data to inform policies,” says Professor Nirmal Ganguly, Chair of the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership – India National Working Group. One of the most powerful measures globally to prevent antimicrobial resistance has been the ban of the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in livestock in the 27 European Union countries since 2006. The ban underlines the complex nature of the problem. “Antimicrobial resistance is a problem that goes beyond the health sector, so it is important to involve all sectors,” says Jakab.