National AMR Context
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major public health challenge in India, driven by the widespread misuse and overuse of antibiotics across the human, animal and environmental dimensions. With an unregulated market, India is one of the largest consumers of antibiotics in the world and bears the world’s highest burden of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis. Additionally, misuse of antibiotics in agriculture and poultry farming is widespread.
India’s National Action Plan (NAP) for AMR was released in April 2017 by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. An updated version, India’s AMR National Action Plan 2.0, is currently under development.
Project overview
The “One Health AMR Challenge” focuses on developing and scaling innovative solutions to address AMR in India across the One Health sectors, with the potential of expansion to other LMICs.
The partnership falls under the umbrella of the India AMR Innovation Hub (IAIH), a think tank conceptualised and driven by C-CAMP with the aim of supporting and fostering innovative solutions to address the challenge of AMR across the One Health domain.
In this partnership, ICARS provides technical and financial support to C-CAMP and innovators. Priority themes of the OH AMR Challenge include the prevention of and detection of bacterial respiratory tract infections in humans (for example detection, diagnostics and monitoring tools), solutions for early diagnosis of zoonotic infections, solutions to minimise and or prevent the use of antibiotics in food animals and milking animals (for example through guiding tools and technologies to create AMS and prevent imprudent antibiotic use on farms), and more.
Intended outcomes
This partnership contributes towards the objectives of India’s new National Action Plan, NAP 2.0 on AMR, and assists in addressing the challenges of AMR in the region and beyond.
It also supports the IAIH, building innovative solutions across the One Health spectrum for India and beyond.
