Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health threat, and it is spreading as a silent pandemic across the world. The estimated deaths due to infections caused by resistant pathogens would be 10 million per year by 2050 if no preventive measures are adopted. Misuse and overuse of antibiotics have been identified as the main drivers of AMR and new antibiotics are hardly produced due to the very reason that AMR quickly make them ineffective.
Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of Antimicrobial stewardship has been identified as the main strategy to combat AMR worldwide. The Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists (SLCM) has taken the leadership in developing guidelines and circulars, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and several other professional Colleges, as per the "National Strategic plan to combat AMR 2024-2028", aiming to implement Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) in hospitals. As such, 4 tools in implementing AMS in hospitals have been developed.
- National Antimicrobial Stewardship Guideline for Healthcare institutions of Sri Lanka - General Circular No. 02-116 2024
- Implementation of Antimicrobial Prescription Chart in healthcare lnstitutions - National antimicrobial prescription chart and its guide
- Implementation of 'Aware classification' of antimicrobials in healthcare institutions in Sri Lanka - General Circular No. 01-13 2024 & the list of AWaRe antimicrobials
- National guideline on empirical and prophylactic use of antimicrobials, 2nd Edition – 2024
SLCM and MoH in collaboration with other Professional Colleges have conducted several workshops in different Provinces of the country, targeting the Government Hospitals, and this will be continued to cover the whole country.
The target audience includes administrators, prescribers including consultants, matrons, infection control teams, pharmacists and other relevant categories who are involved in AMS programmes in the hospitals. The private sector hospitals will also be addressed in near future.
We believe these workshops will help all of us to understand our responsibilities and to actively participate in AMS programmes in our hospitals which is very essential, to prevent the development of AMR and to stop unnecessary spendings on antibiotics while ensuring patient safety and better patient management resulting in overall good outcomes.
In addition to the above mentioned workshops, SLCM has conducted several Continuous Medical Education (CME) programmes, some in collaboration with other professional organisations, on AMS. This will be continued as SLCM understands the importance of CME programmes in keeping with the momentum of all the newly introduced tools and developments in implementation of AMS in Sri Lanka.
