The Federal Government has launched the second Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) national action plan and genomic surveillance strategy designed to tackle bacteria in the next five years.
The action is expected to build upon and sustain the achievement made in the first AMR, which was implemented from 2017 to 2023 and seeks to address areas where the previous national plan did not attain in the last five years.
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines; as a result of drug resistance, thus, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become difficult or impossible to treat, increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, disability and death.
AMR is one of the top global public health and development threats. It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths. The misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals and plants are the main drivers in the development of drug-resistant pathogens.
Speaking at the launch of the policy documents in Abuja, the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof Muhammad Pate, said that AMR is a silent but devastating resistance of microorganisms to antimicrobial treatments that presents a clear and present danger to global health, food security, and development.
He noted that over 64,000 deaths were attributable to antimicrobial resistance in Nigeria in 2019, while only 42.7 per cent of the population had access to healthcare services in 2019.
Pate expressed the government’s commitment to integrating genomic technologies into all aspects of work.noting that the plan has been laid out to build capacity for genomic sequencing and surveillance, as well as improving response to emerging infections and advancing vaccine development.
Also speaking, the Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), Dr Jide Idris, said the second AMR plan is a comprehensive five-year strategy designed to combat antimicrobial resistance in Nigeria, adding that the NCDC leads the Antimicrobial Resistance Coordination Committee (AMRCC) to drive the implementation of the plan’s priority actions.
Co-chair of the national AMR Technical working group, Prof Kabiru Junaid, noted that that antimicrobial resistance has caused more than a hundred deaths, which, if urgent action is not taken will increase. He observed that it will cost about $77, 633, 889 to implement all the strategic objectives of the AMR national plan.
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Sen Abubakar Kyari, said the ministry is committed to implementing the activities of the action plan. On his part, the World Health Organisation’s Country Representative to Nigeria, Dr Walter Kazadi, said that AMR is predicted to be the next pandemic in the world and emphasised the need for collaboration between different ministries and agencies to reduce the impact of AMR to humans, animals, and even agriculture. He pledged the commitment of the global health body to supporting Nigeria with all the necessary resources to defeat the challenges.
Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, who was represented by the Director, Department of Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Bahijjahtu Abubakar, said effective implementation of the plan will improve the country’s strategies in addressing AMR and strengthen surveillance in the environment sector, livestock and healthcare. Lawal stressed the need to promote sustainable standard practices that ensure food security, protection of the environment and human health.
