DILI, 13 august 2024 (TATOLI) – The National Steering Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) convened in Dili on friday to assess the country’s progress in combating this growing global health threat.
The one-day meeting brought together key stakeholders, including Secretary of State for Livestock Jose Viera de Araujo, and representative from the office of the Vice Minister of Operational Hospital and several institutional heads, to discuss adherence to guidelines and explore the latest scientific advancements in AMR.
Antimicrobial Resistance is universally recognized as one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century.
Bacteria, viruses, and other microbes are evolving to outsmart the oldest antibiotics and other antimicrobials, making them less effective.
“The overuse and misuse of antibiotics have accelerated this problem, creating a world where simple procedures like surgery or even a minor cut can become life-threatening,” said Arvind Mathur, WHO representative while opening the meeting.
Mathur alled the steering committee meeting timely as it provided all stakeholders an opportunity to review and adjust plans to evolving circumstances locally and to capitalize on global developments.
Timor-Leste has an active National Action Plan AMR 2.0 to act as a guiding document from 2022-2026. The meeting on Friday was additionally important as it was the first one following the formation of the new government last year.
Mathur highlighted Timor-Leste’s progress in addressing AMR, including the establishment of a multi-sectoral national committee, annual awareness campaigns, and public knowledge assessments. Collaborative work with Menzies resulted in the development and dissemination of National Antibiotics guidelines. The country’s ongoing efforts aim to focus on AMR surveillance in both human health, animal health, and the environment.
“However, implementation remains patchy, use of antibiotics guidelines is sub-optimal, stewardship needs robustness, monitoring is rather lacking and practice of ‘culture & sensitivity testing’ needs to be further built,” he said. The detection of the multi-drug resistant Klebsiella infection at HNGV Hospital underscores the critical need for continued vigilance, Mathur emphasized.
He also highlighted the importance of implementing antibiotic stewardship in healthcare settings to ensure the responsible use of antibiotics- doctors to prescribe rationally and patients to take as they should and track the use.
The AMR surveillance data in Timor-Leste has revealed emerging resistance patterns, including multidrug-resistant TB infections, and hence the meeting was crucial and timely.
It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths. What’s even more challenging is that the world faces an antibiotics pipeline and access crisis.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor: Filomeno Martins
