Health Ministry Warns of Antimicrobial Resistance

The Ministry of Health and Wellness is advising citizens to limit the use of pharmaceutical medication in light of World Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Week. Today, the ministry held a health fair to join the international community in observing the annual day. The global campaign aims to raise awareness and understanding of AMR and seeks to promote best practices among health stakeholders to reduce the spread of drug-resistant infections. Love News spoke to the Director of the ministry’s Licensing and Accreditation Unit Engelbert Emmanuel about the importance of the study.

Engelbert Emmanuel, Director, Licensing and Accreditation, Ministry of Health and Wellness: “We have seen the culture that has been developed over the years in terms of the purchasing of prescribed medication by people within our country. It’s a global concern and the thing is to get as much information out there for them to understand the impact of their actions and in terms of consuming antibiotics without proper prescription and not fully in terms of the doctor’s advice, etc. So it’s more to create awareness at the end of the day. We have basically a large number of them as we speak. One of the things that we know is that at the end of the day we have resistance, so mainly bacteria and fungus at the end of the day. And the way these medications are applied, I mean, and used, sometimes they are used without being fully consulted and being utilized based on how it should. So we have seen rise in so many different antimicrobials at the end of the day. Candida Aros being one of them that we have seen on a rise. And around 2021, we have seen many different rise in terms of different pathogens reported by the U.S. pre-COVID and post-COVID and we know that we’re not too far from them and we have a lot of visitors from these areas and we know how infectious diseases are transmitted at the end of the day.”

Emmanuel went on to explain how citizens can ensure they protect the microbial organisms found in the body from being impacted by conventional medicine. 

Engelbert Emmanuel, Director, Licensing and Accreditation, Ministry of Health and Wellness: “We have seen the culture that has been developed over the years in terms of the purchasing of prescribed medication by people within our country. It’s a global concern and the thing is to get as much information out there for them to understand the impact of their actions and in terms of consuming antibiotics without proper prescription and not fully in terms of the doctor’s advice, etc. So it’s more to create awareness at the end of the day. We have basically a large number of them as we speak. One of the things that we know is that at the end of the day we have resistance, so mainly bacteria and fungus at the end of the day. And the way these medications are applied, I mean, and used, sometimes they are used without being fully consulted and being utilized based on how it should. So we have seen rise in so many different antimicrobials at the end of the day. Candida Aros being one of them that we have seen on a rise. And around 2021, we have seen many different rise in terms of different pathogens reported by the U.S. pre-COVID and post-COVID and we know that we’re not too far from them and we have a lot of visitors from these areas and we know how infectious diseases are transmitted at the end of the day.”

A similar event was held in Punta Gorda, Toledo last week.