Health and Economic Burden
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) augment the health problems as well as brings huge economic loss in the form of significant reduction in productive days of work by employee who are severely ill [5]. The most common resistant microbes found across India are presented in Table 1. These microbes with higher resistance rate are responsible for high morbidity and mortality due to severe infections. Further, patients infected with resistant microbes are more likely to receive therapies that are inadequate or receive the appropriate therapies in low dosages than recommended [10]. With this risk of spreading that infection increases to other organs and to entire body as well [10]. Patients infected with resistant microbes are more likely to die than those who are infected with regular microbes. Patients infected with resistant microbes. World-wide, Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) causes around 700,000 deaths annually [5], [9], [10], [19], [20]. If such pace remains there, then resistance rates increase by 40% as a result 9.5 million deaths will be there annually [19], [20].
AMR increases the cost of healthcare. Patients infected by resistant microbes needs advanced and costly care and are more probably to get admitted to a for serious health consequences [19], [20]. Aggressive antimicrobial therapies and additional laboratory tests adds extra expenditure is due excessive cost on nursing and medical care cost, as well as many other things [15], [20]. As first line drugs do not work even for common ailment, physicians need to prescribe costly second or third-line of antimicrobial drugs [10]. The situation will become worse if current picture of increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains same.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) cost more to society. as with more drugs are required to administer with higher cost than usual first line drugs, this will collectively increase the cost of entire healthcare [20]. Increase in cost is directly associated to treatment failure, ill-health and also it results in loss of income due to death and disability [20]–[22]. Indirect cost on seeking health care adds more to the loss in productivity as patient may remain in hospital for longer period which keep him or her away from work [23]. If no effective strategies are put in place, it may result in deaths and disability among citizens in productive age group. This will adversely affect the total GDP.
Responding to the Rise of AMR
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major public health concern for India where the burden of infectious diseases is high and consumption of antibiotics is huge and un-regulated [24]. In this regard there is need to devise interventions focused to tackle excessive or irrational use of antimicrobials and limits transmission of resistant microbes into humans, as well as R & D, are needed to control the health as well as economic burden caused by Antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This policy brief recommends the following strategies to prevent consequences of AMR in India:
  1. Avoiding emergence
  2. Avoiding spread
  3. Encouraging R & D
  4. Innovative policie
  5. Multi-disciplinary approach
  6. Restricting OTC