Worried by the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) which is estimated to claim 10 million lives annually from 2025, a leading pharmaceutical company, St. Racheal’s Pharma, has called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to as a matter of urgency issue directives for the central bulk purchase of antibiotics, to be provided at subsidised rates for indigent patients in federal teaching hospitals and medical centres across the country.
The Chairman, St. Racheal’s Pharma, Pharm. Akinjide Adeosun, in a press statement on the commemoration of World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness week (WAAW), 2023, made available to pharmanewsonline, said the call is akin to the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) strategy of 1994, and it will accelerate industrialisation, manufacturing, boost medicine security with the attendant massive jobs creation.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says AMR is a threat to humans, animals, plants and the environment.
Director General, WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, in his speech on the commemoration of WAAW 2023, said effective reduction of AMR requires the collaboration of all sectors in using antimicrobials prudently and appropriately, while taking preventive measures to decrease the incidence of infections and follow good practices in disposal of antimicrobial contaminated waste.
“This is why this year’s theme ”preventing antimicrobial resistance together” calls for collaboration across sectors to preserve the efficacy of these critical medicines. Fighting AMR is a truly global endeavour and must be addressed through a One Health approach”, he remarked.
Adeosun opined the suggestion will tame the increasing antibiotics resistance exacerbated by the worsening economic condition occasioned by the floating of the Nigerian naira, removal of fuel subsidy, exorbitant energy cost, high lending rate and spiraling inflation leading to medicines gradually becoming luxurious & hence un-affordable & unavailable, which may make sub-optimal dosing of antibiotics to increase eventually leading to high morbidity and mortality of the citizenry.
He said if implemented, his submission will be a twofold palliative, as it will reduce patients’ mortality rate as well as increase the life expectancy of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in the country.
The St. Racheal’s boss, disclosed that AMR already causes substantial sickness and death worldwide, which is responsible for approximately 1.27 million deaths in 2019. Over the past century, he said antibiotics have transformed practitioners’ ability to treat infection and illness, as well as reduce mortality. However, he asserted that bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant, and with a limited pipeline of new antibiotics, practitioners risk effectively returning to the pre-antibiotic era, where they can no longer treat infections.
“We thereby need to appropriately use the arsenal of antibiotics we have today”, he insisted,
In unison with the quadripartite organisations of WHO; United Nations Environment programme; Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), he charged all stakeholders- pharmacists, medical doctors, veterinary doctors, botanists, microbiologists, nurses, laboratory scientists, health administrators & environmentalists in the public and private sectors to work together to build partnerships and forge a common approach to halt antimicrobial resistance thereby contributing to the improvement of life expectancy of Nigerians.
