Increase in antibiotics resistance worries govt
Ministry of Health says it is worried with the increasing cases of resistance to antibiotics attributed to people’s poor handling of drugs.
The ministry’s Principal Secretary Dr. Charles Mwansambo said this in Lilongwe yesterday during a National Antimicrobial Resistance Symposium marking the 2022 Global Antibiotics Awareness Week.
He said: “The problem is that the rate of antimicrobial resistance in the country is surpassing the innovations in the manufacturing of antibiotics so one day we may find ourselves without any useful antibiotic.”
World Health Organisation country representative Neema Rusibamayila Kimambo said there is a global concern on the trends of antibiotics resistance and called for concerted effort in the fight against the vice.
Ministry of Health antimicrobial resistance national coordinator Watipaso Kasambara said it is estimated that 10 million people will be dying annually by 2050 if nothing is done.
She said antibiotics resistance develops when people do not follow prescriptions from hospitals and use antibiotics for other purposes such as treating animals without consulting physicians.
“People do not know but we have a serious problem among ourselves. Antibiotics resistance is rapidly growing among us and soon it will unleash its pain on us,” said Kasambara.
Among the activities to mark this year’s commemoration, she said the ministry has engaged health facilities to raise awareness within their catchment and that their efforts will be complemented by the Lilongwe cycling group who already cycled around Lilongwe disseminating information.
The ministry also engaged the Lilongwe Cycling Club to cycle about 46 kilometres in Lilongwe to raise awareness through distribution of fliers and answering questions on the antibiotics resistance from the public.
