[e-drug] WHO launches global strategy against antimicrobial resistance

E-DRUG: WHO launches global strategy against antimicrobial resistance
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[WHO launched a new publication "Global Strategy for containment of
anti-microbial resistance" on 11 September. Due to events in USA, this
did not get much attention.

The 529 KByte report (PDF file) is available at:
http://www.who.int/emc/amrpdfs/WHO_Global_Strategy_English.pdf
A summary is at: http://www.who.int/emc/amrpdfs/execsumE.pdf

WHO's Policy is a consequence of a 1998 WHO Assembly resolution
calling for more action against antimicrobial resistance.

The press release is attached below. WB]

Press Release WHO/39; 11 September 2001

$17 BILLION SPENT RESEARCHING NEW DRUGS
IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS COULD BE LOST JUST
AS QUICKLY WITHOUT GLOBAL ACTION

WHO Acts to Safeguard Vital Treatments for the Future

The World Health Organization (WHO) is today taking action to ensure that
vital drugs
can continue to be used effectively by this generation and in the future.
Without
concerted, global action many of the dramatic breakthroughs made in medical
science over the past fifty years could be lost to the growing threat of
drug resistance.

"Antibiotics were one of the most significant discoveries of the 20th
century. Killer
diseases such as tuberculosis, meningitis, scarlet fever and pneumonia could
suddenly be treated and cured," said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO
Director-General. "Unless we act to protect these medical miracles, we could
be
heading for a post-antibiotic age in which many medical and surgical
advances could
be undermined by the risk of incurable infection."

Over the past five years, more than US$ 17 billion has been spent by the
pharmaceutical industry on research and development of medicines used to
treat
infectious diseases (according to industry data). Unless drug resistance is
tackled
quickly, much of that investment could be lost.

Today, WHO is launching a comprehensive strategy to contain the spread of
drug
resistance. This carefully structured framework can be used by anyone
involved in the
use or management of medical treatments - from patients to doctors, hospital
managers to health ministers. It is the result of three years of work by
experts at WHO
and other national and international partners.

"This strategy is designed to promote the wiser use of drugs so that
resistance is
minimized and effective treatments can continue to be used for generations
to
come," said Dr David Heymann, WHO Executive Director for Communicable
Diseases.

Better-informed patients can avoid putting pressure on doctors to give them
antibiotics. Better-informed doctors will be able to prescribe only the
drugs that are
required to treat a patient, rather than automatically giving either the
newest or best
known medicines.

Hospital managers can put in place detailed procedures to monitor the
effectiveness
of drugs that are being used. Health ministers can make sure that the most
badly
needed drugs are available for people to use and that inappropriate drugs
are not
used.

Use of antibiotics in food production also contributes to increased drug
resistance.
Currently, 50% of all antibiotic production is used in agriculture - not
only to treat sick
animals, but also to promote livestock and poultry growth. Drug resistant
microbes in
animals can be transferred to humans.

To prevent this, the Global Strategy recommends a series of actions,
including
obligatory prescriptions for all antibiotic use for disease control in
animals and the
phasing out of antibiotics as growth promoters.

Drug resistance is a natural biological occurrence, but one that can kill.
Today we live
in a world where drug resistance is spreading fast and growing numbers of
front-line
drugs are becoming ineffective. There is indisputable evidence of resistance
to
medicines used to treat meningitis, sexually transmitted infections such as
gonorrhoea, infections acquired in hospitals and even to the new classes of
antiretroviral (ARV) drugs used to treat HIV.

For example, in several countries tuberculosis strains have become resistant
to at
least two of the most effective drugs used against the disease. Elsewhere,
commonly
used antimalarial drugs have become virtually useless because the malaria
parasite
has acquired resistance to them.

"This is a problem faced in both rich and poor communities, in
industrialized as well
as developing countries," said Dr Heymann. "It has different roots in
different
societies - overuse of drugs in many developed countries, underuse in poorer
nations
- but the net result and the imminent danger are the same."

It is a global problem. No country can afford to ignore it, no country can
afford not to
respond. At the same time, action taken in any one country will have clear
and
positive results around the world.

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For further information, journalists can contact Mr Gregory Hartl, WHO
Spokesperson, WHO,
Geneva. Telephone (+41 22) 791 4458; Fax (+41 22) 791 4858; Email:
hartlg@who.int All WHO
Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Features as well as other information on
this subject can be
obtained on Internet on the WHO home page http://www.who.int/

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