WHO Collaborating Center (WHO CC) for Antimicrobial Resistance
Partnership for Global Health: A Study of Antimicrobial Resistance in Delhi, India
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an increasingly serious threat to global public health that requires action across all sectors, government, and society. Prolonged duration of illness, additional diagnostic tests, and expensive drugs increase the cost of healthcare for patients with resistant infections. With a higher burden of infectious disease and higher out of pocket expenditure, AMR is an even greater challenge for developing nations like India[1]. In 2014, to avoid nonprescription sales of antibiotics, the Schedule H1 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act was created.
In line with its objective to conduct independent multi-disciplinary research, CDDEP partnered with three MSD Fellows, Pramod Gawli, Mythili Nagaratnam, and Lourdes Rodriguez, as part of the company’s Fellowship for Global Health program. These Fellows set out to contribute to CDDEP’s mission to build AMR evidence by exploring over the counter use of antibiotics as well as the barriers and facilitators in the implementation of current regulations on antibiotic use in Delhi, India.
Research fieldwork and qualitative data collection were carried out in different socio-economic settings of Delhi to unravel the social realities behind the consumption and dispensing practices of antibiotics without prescription from the perspectives of both consumers and providers (dispensers and pharmacists).
The Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), New Delhi, conducted this study in the latter half of 2019 with Dr. Jyoti Joshi as the Principal Investigator and Dr. Anjana Sankhil and Prof Ramanan Laxminarayan as Co-Principal Investigators.
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[1]CDDEP, 2015. The State of the World’s Antibiotics; Laxminarayan & Chaudhary, 2016. Antibiotic Resistance in India: Drivers and Opportunities for Action.
