Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a major global challenge and is getting the attention of all relevant stakeholders. Factors such as inappropriate and irrational use of antimicrobial agents among others have led to the increase in AMR. To address this issue, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has initiated a series of activities under its AMR surveillance network with tertiary care hospitals to collect national data, guide treatment practices and rationalize antibiotic use in the country. This challenging program needs to be further built up on multiple levels of health care and expand these activities to private nursing homes and district hospitals.

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) identified AMR as one of the top 10 priorities for the ministry's collaborative work with World Health Organization (WHO). The health ministry has launched National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR) 2017 – 20211. The strategic objectives of NAP-AMR are aligned with the global action plan based on national needs and priorities, and in addition to the top 5 priorities of GAP-AMR, India has a sixth priority that is India-specific dealing with India's leadership on AMR – including international, national and sub-national collaborations on AMR.

One of the strategic objectives of NAP-AMR focuses on strengthening India's leadership on AMR through international collaborations to ensure India's contributions towards global efforts to contain AMR, national collaborations to facilitate collaborations among vertical disease control programmes and national stakeholders, and state level collaborations to ensure action at the ground level against AMR.

Pfizer and ICMR collaboration on AMR

ICMR under the sixth priority NAP-AMR has decided to collaborate with Pfizer for the purpose to achieve the unified goal of reducing AMR2. This will be an important and high profile activity and will be used to help determine the status of AMR in India.

In this view, ICMR invites Expression of Interest (EOI) from reputed, eligible and experienced firms offering Project Management Consultancy (PMC) Services to set up a Project Management Unit (PMU) in accordance with the Scope of Work (SoW) for a period of two (2) years commencing from date of start.

About AMR

AMR is a broad term for resistance in different types of microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites and encompasses resistance to antibiotics such as antibacterial, antiviral, anti-parasitic and anti-fungal drugs. AMR occurs naturally but is facilitated by the misuse or overuse of antibiotics. Examples of misuse include when they are taken by people with viral infections like colds and flu, and when they are given as growth promoters in animals or used to prevent diseases in healthy animals. AMR is present in every country making it a top ten serious threat to global public health that requires action across all government sectors and society.

Footnotes

1. http://www.searo.who.int/india/topics/antimicrobial_resistance/nap_amr.pdf

2. https://www.icmr.nic.in/sites/default/files/whats_new/Scope_of_work.pdf

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