Consultative Workshop Held On Antimicrobial Resistance

The UK aid funded programme Fleming Fund Country Grant Pakistan - DAI on Wednesday conducted two days consultative workshop for the capacity building of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) staff and to cover the basic concepts of antimicrobial resistance

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Mar, 2021 ) :The UK aid funded programme Fleming Fund Country Grant Pakistan - DAI on Wednesday conducted two days consultative workshop for the capacity building of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) staff and to cover the basic concepts of antimicrobial resistance.

The objective of the training was to introduce the staff of DRAP and regional provincial regulatory bodies to the importance of antimicrobial resistance and the stewardship programs that can be established to cop the issues related to this matter.

Chief Executive Officer, DRAP, Asif Rauf Chief said "Health is priority of our country and proper use of antibiotic is fundamental importance to save lives. We need to intervene with pharmacy and doctor intervention.

He said "There is no quantitative data for infections and bacteria and we all have to play our role or we will miss the opportunity to save precious lives." Director Division of Pharmacy Services DRAP, Dr. Abdur Rashid said "We highly appreciate the efforts of Fleming Fund, who dedicated its financial support on AMR. We are facing hurdles in the data collection and surveillance system of AMR and with the help of DAI Fleming fund I believe we will be able to surpass this hurdle." Following up on this Dr Ayesha Rasheed the Head of Fleming Fund Pakistan -DAI, introduced the Fleming Fund programme initiatives. While emphasizing on the significance of programme she said "The Fleming Fund has identified growing Antimicrobial Resistance AMR links to drugs as there is a need for comprehensive actions within 'One Health' approach to efficiently tackle AMR.

" She also presented the programme achievements and geographical presence in Pakistan.

Provincial Pharmacovigilance Center, Punjab, Hafiz Alam Sher trained the participants about the calculation of antimicrobial consumption and using sales data.

The training was followed by the group activity to practice training using sales data recommended by WHO and IQVIA.

Dr Zikrea Saleem, Professor University of Lahore, trained the participants about the calculation of antimicrobial consumption using point prevalence survey followed by the group activity. After the group activities all the group presented their findings and observations.

The session was closed by Dr Huma Qureshi, after the question answer session between the participants and the speakers.

All the speakers highlighted the importance AMR surveillance system and agreed that involving entire chain of stakeholders from beginning and taking all partner for combating AMR can bring positive change in the country.

The keynote speakers of the workshop were Dr. Ayesha Rasheed, Team Lead, Fleming Fund Country Grant-DAI, Hafiz Alam Sher, Provincial Pharmacovigilance Center, Punjab, Dr. Zikriya Saleem, University of Lahore and Dr Huma Qureshi.