Home ›› 12 Dec 2022 ›› Front
Showing their commitment to battle the unsolicited antibiotic menace that is growing more and more in Bangladesh, the government has made strong headway and published the antimicrobial consumption surveillance guideline.
The guideline, which focuses on human consumption mainly, was published on November 9 and the gazette was issued on December 1.
It has been adopted in line with World Health Organisation’s (WHO) AWaRe antibiotics classification and focuses on the One Health Approach.
It will work in parallel with the National Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Surveillance Strategy of Bangladesh 2020-2025, which was adopted in December 2021.
The guideline will allow the AMR surveillance centre of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to scientifically present their findings to those they have been observing in the past couple of years and also help determine the ways forward precisely, according to government officials.
It will also showcase the antimicrobials used most in the country, the root cause of developing AMR in human bodies, the role of doctors in antibiotics intake and the habits of the recipients, they said.
The guideline came as the latest attempt that would find the root cause of AMR development in the human body. The surveillance process will estimate the chemical exposures of the drugs and the quantity of daily consumption among the incorporated antimicrobials.
Data would be collected from local manufacturers, the NOC and indent sections of the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), importers and other government agencies, according to the guideline.
For the collection of AMC surveillance data, the DGDA-AMR cell will update the product list and the manufacturer list every year based on the relevant data on antimicrobial products while the distribution data for AMC surveillance will be updated at the product level.
Battle against AMR
According to health authority sources, the issue came into positive consideration by the government in 2011 through the formulation of a national strategy for AMR containment in the country.
The strategy has been revised two times till now and the third version is being implemented by the National AMR surveillance centre that operates under the disease control unit of DGHS.
In 2017, the DGDA also formed the “Taskforce to Monitor Antimicrobial Consumption (AMC) in Bangladesh.” It was reformed in 2021 by the Health and Family Welfare Ministry to the “Taskforce to Monitor Antimicrobial Consumption and Antimicrobial Use Surveillance in Bangladesh.”
While the development was in progress in the country, the issue got additional importance after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was elected the co-chair of the Global Leaders Group on AMR in 2020.
DGDA is playing the role of the National Centre for AMC Surveillance in Bangladesh and their nominated National Focal and an alternate National Focal are coordinating the overall surveillance activities, including GLASS-AMC data reporting.
Md Salahuddin, an acting director of DGDA, was made the centre’s national focal in February this year. Taking to The Business Post, he said that with the adaptation, they now can start full-fledged activities to achieve the WHO’s target.
WHO in the 13th General Programme of Work (2019–2023) had included a country-level target of at least 60 per cent of total antibiotic consumption being Access group antibiotics.
The specialised UN agency responsible for international public health classified antibiotics into three levels — access group, watch group and reserve group — in 2017.
What officials say
Prof Dr Tahmina Shirin, the director of the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), said there is a clear relation between antibiotic intake and the development of AMR in the human body.
“But we do not have scientific proof in our hands right now. It will help determine the level of intake of the antibiotic in developing AMR. Or give the space to find if any other source can also be responsible behind it,” added Dr Tahmna, also the chairman of the Sectoral Working Group (SWG - Human health) of AMR Surveillance.
IEDCR Principal Scientific Officer and head of the microbiology department Prof Dr Zakir Hossain Habib said antibiotic consumption is the cause and AMR is the impact.
“If the data can be collected precisely, an evidence-based system can be developed that will allow the researchers and decision-makers to reach any decision scientifically.
“It can determine which sort of antibiotics are used across the country despite instructions and also who is prescribing the strongest antimicrobial most,” he said, hoping the evidence-based data would pave the way to battle AMR in the country.
