site.btaCombating Antimicrobial Resistance Requires Long-term Policies - Experts

Sofia, December 13 (BTA) - Antimicrobial resistance will not be combated with new medicine, but with lasting policies. Experts in the BTA national press club united around this statement on Monday, during a roundtable on Bulgaria's strategy towards combating antimicrobial resistance.

A national-level strategy is necessary, involving specific indicators and measurement instruments, to tackle antimicrobial resistance, chair of the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union Prof. Asena Serbezova said in a video at the roundtable. According to her, antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest threats to public health. During the past year and a half, a particular group of antibiotics has been heavily prescribed, and it is necessary to analyse how this has affected resistance. The future strategy against antimicrobial resistance should include raising awareness on the harmful effects of the overuse of antibiotics, and how patients should use these drugs responsibly and rationally, strictly following the diagnosis, she added.

Prof. Iva Hristova, Director of the National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, pointed out that Bulgaria, Poland, Estonia, and Lithuania are the four European countries that do not yet have a strategy to tackle antimicrobial resistance. According to the European Centre for Disease Control, there has been a decline in the use of antibiotics in European countries, in the last year and a half. However, for the same period in Bulgaria, the consumption of macrolides has multiplied, added Prof. Hristova.

Bulgaria needs a new strategy for antimicrobial resistance, experts said. According to them, separate funding is needed for hospital-use antibiotics.

The experts' proposals will be submitted as a declaration to the Health Ministry and introduced to the future parliamentary committee on health.

RY/YV/МТ/