AMR a challenge in health community – Health Minister

…says lack of investments from pharmaceutical companies fuelling crisis

As the global health community continues to battle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), Health Minister, Dr Frank Anthony highlighted that a lack of research and investments from pharmaceutical companies has been a contributing factor to the growing health crisis.

The Health Minister made this highlight during the Health Ministry’s end of year press conference. According to the Minister, antimicrobial resistance has emerged as a challenge in the health community due to a lack of research and investments into new drugs.
“Pharmaceutical companies are not investing a lot of money in doing new antibiotics and even when they invest the money, if you’re going to hold those antibiotics in reserve – meaning that you’re not using them as the first line – then the chances of them making back the money that they’ve invested would take a longer time. So, for many of these companies, there is not a big incentive to invest in newer medications.”
On this point the Minister noted that microorganisms are becoming immune to existing medications. As it relates to Guyana, the Minister noted that some forms of AMR were recorded last year.
“And what we are finding is that the existing medication that we have, the pathogens that are circulating are becoming resistant to the existing medication. In some cases you get good results, in other cases, when you’re treating with that same antibiotic, you’re not getting a good result because that patient might have had some resistant pathogen.”
The Health Minister added, “So, we are starting to see some of that here. And we’ll be monitoring to see what types of resistance and so forth that we are finding out. Because this is such an important problem, because imagine if you can’t, if none of our antibiotics are working, then all the achievements that we would have gotten from fighting infectious diseases with antibiotics, all of that can be eroded.”
In a bid to combat antimicrobial resistance, Dr Anthony revealed that his Ministry has drafted its AMR strategy. According to the Minister, the strategy will have several components geared towards effectively addressing the growing issue.
“it’s a multi-pronged strategy. So, in our institutions, what do we need to do to reduce the spread of infections in our hospital? That programme is called an Antibiotics Chord Ship programme that we are introducing. We have a focal point responsible for AMR in the Ministry, and we are going to roll out this Antibiotics Chord Ship.”
One of the main aspects of the strategy, the Minister revealed, deals with the rolling out of enforcement measures.
Earlier it was reported that the Health Ministry would be cracking down on pharmacies who distribute antibiotics without prescriptions. In this regard Dr Anthony highlighted that consultations have already been held with the Guyana Pharmacist Association (GPA) to identify disciplinary measures for pharmacy owners who distribute antibiotics unprescribed.
“We have to do more enforcement, and I already spoke to the pharmacist’s association, so that when we start taking action; one of the likelihoods might be that we’ll have to debar people if they are not prescribing properly or they’re not adhering to the prescriptions.”
Additionally, the Minister noted that the agriculture sector is one of the main users of antibiotics, the Health Ministry will also have to incorporate research on antimicrobial resistance in animals into its plans.
“So, this thing is going to be a multi-pronged approach, but it might fascinate you to know, globally that the biggest users of antibiotics are not necessarily in human medicine. Some of the biggest users of antibiotics are actually in agriculture and so that there, with a comprehensive programme, it would mean that we have to address antibiotic use across the board. How it’s being used, where it’s being used what can be done, and how can we minimise the use so that we don’t develop resistance.”
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve to resist the effects of antimicrobial drugs, such as antibiotics, antifungals, and antivirals. This makes infections harder to treat, it increases the risk of spreading diseases, and leads to higher mortality rates.
The World Bank estimates that AMR could cost between US $1 trillion and US $3.4 trillion in GDP losses per year by 2030, with healthcare costs alone reaching US $1 trillion by 2050.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts AMR could cause up to 10 million deaths annually by 2050.