The Federal government has called for urgent and improved global awareness to the urgency of the menace of Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) through strengthening knowledge, investment in surveillance and time-tested cutting edge research with capacity to expand the horizon of understanding of the scourge and dealing with it once and for all.
AMR is a resistance to a microorganism to an antimicrobial drug that was originally effective for treatment of infections caused by microbes . It is a major and serious problem and one of the greatest global crisis in public health today.
Making the call last week at the United Nations General Assembly, UNGASS, during the High Level Meeting on AMR held in New York, the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole advocated for increased citizens’ education on rational use of antibiotics, regulation of sales across counter, border control and administration of severe penalty on those who market or distribute imported substandard, spurious, falsely labeled, falsified, counterfeit (SSFFC) medical products,
Adewole, who represented President Muhammadu Buhari at the global forum, noted that basic to Nigeria’s effort at fighting AMR was the establishment of agencies such as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration & Control (NAFDAC) to support and sustain public health activities.
According to him, the NCDC has begun to lead the development of AMR action plan in Nigeria, while NAFDAC has been strengthened to regulate, control, monitor, and establish institutional measures to ensure quality and safety of antimicrobials and ensure antimicrobials by prescription.
“As part of the national efforts to fight AMR, NAFDAC has developed appropriate guidelines and prescribed minimum good manufacturing practice requirements for the facilities , controls to be used in manufacture, processing, and packaging of products for human and animal consumption,” he noted.
Post A Comment:
0 comments: