National programme on AMR

Last Updated24/07/2021

National programme on Anti-Microbial Resistance containment was launched during 12th FYP in 2012-17.
Under this programme, AMR Surveillance Network has been strengthened by establishing labs in State Medical College.
30 sites in 24 states have been included in this network till 30th March 2021.

ICMR has established AMR surveillance and research network (AMRSN) in 2013, to generate evidence and capture trends and patterns of drug resistant infections in the country.
This network comprises of 30 tertiary care hospitals, both private and government.

ICMR has taken initiatives to develop new drugs /medicines through international collaborations in order to strengthen medical research in AMR.
ICMR along with Research Council of Norway (RCN) initiated a joint call for research in antimicrobial resistance in 2017.
Also, along with Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany has a joint Indo-German collaboration for research on AMR.

NAP-AMR was launched on 19th April 2017 with the aim of involving various stakeholder ministries/departments.
Delhi Declaration on AMR– an inter-ministerial consensus was signed by the ministers of the concerned ministries pledging their support in AMR containment.
In the line with NAP-AMR three states have launched their state action plan

ICMR has initiated antibiotic stewardship program (AMSP) on a pilot project basis in 20 tertiary care hospitals across India to control misuse and overuse of antibiotics in hospital wards and ICUs.
On the recommendations of ICMR, DCGI has banned 40 fixed dose combinations (FDCs) which were found inappropriate.
ICMR worked in collaboration with Indian Council of Agriculture Research, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and Fisheries and the DCGI to ban use of Colistin as growth promoter in animal feed in poultry.

It occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat.
Microorganisms that develop antimicrobial resistance are sometimes referred to as “superbugs”.
WHO has declared that AMR is one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity.

Misuse and overuse of antimicrobials are the main drivers in the development of drug-resistant pathogens.
Lack of clean water and sanitation and inadequate infection prevention and control promotes the spread of microbes, some of which can be resistant to antimicrobial treatment.
Farmers using antibiotics to speed the growth of chickens and other livestock, drug-resistant germs find new ways to enter the environment.