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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a great threat to global health, potentially undermining the effectiveness of essential medicines and medical procedures, experts have said.
But vaccines can help prevent AMR by reducing antibiotic use through lowering disease burden and disease transmission, they added.
They said this at a seminar on Sunday organised by International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) in collaboration with the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP) - an international network to contain and combat Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).
The event was held under the title "Antimicrobial Resistance and Vaccines Workshop".
icddr,b Scientist Dr Wasif Ali Khan, GARP Chair, highlighted the achievements of GARP Bangladesh chapter since its launch in 2016.
Rishiraj Bhagawati, Senior Research Analyst, One Health Trust (formerly CDDEP), India, delivered a presentation titled "Communicating the value of vaccines to address AMR—Evidence from Bangladesh."
He provided an overview of the GARP initiatives and said, “The GARP currently is focusing on linking AMR to the issue of immunisation around the world. By immunising, not only the disease burden gets reduced, but also antimicrobial resistance among the population can be reduced.”
Following that, an overview of the AMR situation in Bangladesh was presented by Prof Md Sayedur Rahman, Chairman, Dept of Pharmacology, BSMMU.
Prof Tahmina Shirin, Director, IEDCR, Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), in her speech, said, “The use of antibiotics is huge in animals as well as in humans, which cannot be ignored. We have been working on AMR for a long time; we have the evidence, we know where the gaps are, but we still don’t know how to address these."
Dr Tanvir Hossen, Deputy Programme Manager, Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), DGHS, presented on EPI in Bangladesh and the role of vaccination in AMR and highlighted the continuous efforts of the Government of Bangladesh on introducing necessary vaccines for tackling growing AMR concerns.
Presenting on the steps to contain AMR in Bangladesh, Dr Aninda Rahman DPM, AMR-CDC, DGHS, briefed about the National Strategic Plan on AMR, AMR surveillance, and antimicrobial stewardship guideline. He also mentioned that IEDCR and icddr,b are working to strengthen microbiology laboratory training in the country.
The workshop, funded by the One Health Trust, brought together a diverse group of experts, researchers, policymakers, and government representatives to discuss strategies for combating AMR by recognising the value of vaccines in tackling AMR.