Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sought continued collaboration from global leaders to keep up the momentum for ensuring equitable access to affordable and effective antibiotics and other medical facilities through technology transfer and sharing of ownership. “Let’s work at the same time for partnership for investment in Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) containment,” she said on Tuesday. The Prime Minister made the plea in her pre-recorded speech at the Second Meeting of Global Leaders Group (GLG) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). She said the AMR challenge requires sustained action across sectors.  “I’m pleased to see the finalisation of the action plan in this regard. I’m also happy to support the GLG priority advocating for financing and implementation of multisectoral National Action Plans, with a One Health approach,” she said. Read: Don’t be hesitant about taking Covid test: PM to rural people Hasina said she was glad to approve the comprehensive communication strategy for the GLG.  “We’ll do our part to raise the profile of the GLG work through different networks.” She mentioned that financing across sectors is essential to reduce the burden of AMR.  “I look forward to hearing your ideas on what the GLG can do to increase sustainable financing to directly address AMR.” The Prime Minister gave importance to the need to make sure that adequate funding is available for the national action plan implementation, research and development, and for ensuring equitable access to new innovations. “Needless to say, we need to prioritise political action to achieve our goal,” she said, adding that AMR should be embedded in implementation of SDGs. Talking about her own country, Hasina said Bangladesh has developed a six-year (2017-2022) National Strategic Plan and National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance Containment. Read: Better housing: Hasina distributes flats among 300 low-income families “The Bangladesh AMR Response Alliance has also been formed.” She mentioned that Laboratory-based AMR surveillance for both human and animal health are being conducted regularly to ensure WHO categorisation. “We’ve also been providing AMR surveillance data to WHO GLASS Platform for the last two years.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday said Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) will not only endanger human, animal and plant health, but also threaten food security and the progress achieved in SDGs. "The Covid-19 pandemic is the defining public health crisis of our time that has already taken more than three million lives. However, the impending pandemic, in the form of antimicrobial resistance, will cause even more harm to the global health," she said. The Prime Minister said this in her pre-recorded video message in the 'One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (GLG-AMR)' as co-chair with Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley. Sheikh Hasina said antimicrobial resistance can affect anyone, regardless of geographical location and socioeconomic condition. Also read: PM Hasina suggests 5 actions to deal with drug-resistant diseases "For AMR containment, we’ve to ensure strict adherence to Infection Prevention and Control-IPC measures. That’s possible through implementation of Global Action Plan-2015 on AMR and 2016 UN political declaration on AMR," she said. In this regard, she put forward seven suggestions for addressing the challenges of AMR which is crucial for preventing future pandemics. These include: Setting up of global, regional, and national targets and inclusive monitoring as well as reporting system to achieve the goals of ARC, developing guidelines and policies at different tiers for the appropriate use of antimicrobials and Sharing of scientific knowledge and technical assistance for ensuring effective and inclusive AMR surveillance and capacity building. The others are: Ensuring equitable access to affordable and effective antibiotics and other medical facilities through technology transfer and sharing of ownership, sufficient and sustainable financing for AMR-specific and AMR-sensitive actions with special attention to low- and middle-income countries, public-private partnerships for investment in AMR containment; and inclusive, affordable and sustainable universal health care coverage. Also read: People’s lives come first: PM Hasina Talking about Bangladesh, she said the government has adopted numerous initiatives to ensure effective antimicrobial usage at the domestic level. "We’ve developed a six-year National Strategic Plan and National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance Containment (ARC)," she said. The Prime Minister said the plans aim to ensure rational use of antimicrobials in human health, livestock, fisheries, and agricultural sector. She said Bangladesh is providing AMR data to WHO GLASS platform from 2019. Besides, she said, the government is also involving the media to increase awareness among the mass people about the antimicrobial resistance. Also read: Covid-19: Hasina for balancing livelihoods and public health Hasina, as the co-chair of the Global Leaders Group on AMR, reiterated her call to the global leaders to establish AMR as a top priority issue in the political agenda to combat the threat of AMR and create a universal health care system. The Prime Minister iterated her commitment to work together with the Prime Minister of Barbados as the co-chair of the Global Leaders Group on AMR. She also appreciated the ongoing efforts of WHO, FAO, and OIE to formulate global strategies for tackling the upcoming challenges of AMR through a comprehensive and collaborative approach with diverse stakeholders.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday stressed on the importance of five actions to fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as it is crucial for preventing future pandemics. The Prime Minister put forward the actions at the high-level Interactive Dialogue on AMR through her pre-recorded statement played at the opening segment of the dialogue at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The actions include an integrated multisectoral action plan on AMR, including a collective action plan by the international community at both regional and global levels with special focus on low- and middle-income countries; and good manufacturing, laboratory practices and surveillance framework. The three other actions are equitable access to affordable and effective antibiotics, as required, through transfer of technology and sharing of ownership; sustainable financing for AMR containment activities and finally global public awareness in combating AMR through political commitment and partnership among the member states. Also read: People’s lives come first: PM Hasina “Addressing the challenges of AMR is crucial for preventing future pandemics. We need to implement the 2015 Global Action Plan on AMR, 2016 UN political declaration on AMR, and formulate AMR national action plans,” she said. As co-chairs of the Global Leaders Group on AMR, the Prime Ministers of Bangladesh and Barbados stand ready to work with all relevant stakeholders in contributing to the fight against AMR, Hasina said. She said the world is now witnessing the devastating pandemic of Covid-19. “However, antimicrobial resistance may cause even more lethal pandemics in the future.” The Prime Minister mentioned that failure to tackle this hazard in time will result in huge loss of human lives, animals, and plants. Also read: Hasina places 4 suggestions to deal with climate challenge According to an estimate by the WHO, she said, 10 million people will die every year by 2050 from AMR, and economic losses will be trillions of dollars disrupting food security and progress towards achievement of the SDGs and universal health coverage. Turning to Bangladesh, the Prime Minister said the government has developed a six-year (from 2017 to 2022) National Strategic Plan and National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance Containment (ARC). Besides, she said, the National Technical Committee on ARC and the Bangladesh AMR Response Alliance have been formed. Hasina said laboratory-based AMR surveillance for both human and animal health is being conducted regularly to ensure WHO categorisation. “Similarly, from 2019, we’ve been providing AMR surveillance data to WHO GLASS Platform.” Also read: Covid vaccines should be declared as global public goods: PM Hasina President of the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly Volkan Bozkir convened the high-level dialogue calling for accelerated action to tackle the growing threat of AMR. AMR --referred to as a silent tsunami— has the potential to be the next global health crisis and has already affected the response to Covid-19.   AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time. As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat-increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. According to the UN website data, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown the ease with which infections can spread, threaten global health security and destabilise economies, lives and livelihoods. AMR is a rising pandemic and challenges the effective delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also read: Implementation of Paris deal only way to check global warming: Hasina Currently, at least an estimated 700,000 people die each year due to drug-resistant diseases. If no action is taken, drug-resistant diseases could cause 10 million deaths each year by 2050 and damage to the economy as catastrophic as the 2008-2009 global financial crisis; and by 2030, AMR could force up to 24 million people into extreme poverty. Prime Minister of Barbados and also Co-chair of the One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance Mia Amor Mottley, President of the 75th UNGA Volkan Bozkir, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed,  Director General of World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Qu Dongyu, Director General of World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Dr Monique Eloit and Deputy Executive Director of UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Joyce Msuya spoke at the opening segment of the dialogue.