How AMR is being tackled
Governments and pharmaceutical companies are considering ways to increase the discovery of new antibiotics. The final report of the AMR review, Tackling Drug-Resistant Infections Globally: Final Report and Recommendations, outlines ways in which antimicrobial resistance can be tackled.
It is particularly important to ensure the antibiotics currently in existence remain effective, since no new class of antibiotics has been discovered for more than 30 years.
Even if new classes are found, simply replacing old antibiotics with new ones is not the solution, as they could also become ineffective if they are not used judiciously. We know that new drugs have a very limited lifespan before resistant cases are found.
Figure 2: Who is prescribing antibitoics?
- General paractice 74%
- Hospital (inpatients) 11%
- Hospital (outpatients) 7%
- Dental practices 5%
- Other community settings 3%
How pharmacy teams can contribute
With over 70 per cent of antibiotic prescribing occurring in primary care, community pharmacy teams have a critical role to play in tackling AMR. Preventing infections will play a major part in tackling antimicrobial resistance because it reduces the need for antibiotics in the first place.