Myanmar National Action Plan for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance (2017-2022).

This Myanmar National Action Plan on AMR (NAP AMR) for the period 2017 – 2022 outlines five strategic objectives needed to mitigate the risks posed by AMR: 1. Awareness; 2. Surveillance; 3. Hygiene, Infection Prevention And Control (IPC); 4. Optimise Use of Antimicrobial Medicines; 5. (Economic) Case For Sustainable Investments and Increase Investments in New Medicines, Diagnostic Tools, Vaccines and Other Interventions to Reduce Antimicrobial Use.
AMR is recognized as one of the greatest threats to global health, food security and development today. The NAP AMR indicates that the policy takes further efforts on reinforcing the government’s commitment to make universal healthcare and animal welfare, food security a reality.
The NAP AMR seeks to enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food system. To implement strategic objective 1 related to bridging knowledge and awareness gaps, the NAP AMR will establish an evidence-based public communications programme on a national scale to improve awareness of AMR amongst general public and professionals. To implement strategic objective 2 related to surveillance of AMR, steps would be taken to understand how resistance develops and spreads. This will be done by building on existing strengths of functional national hospital and public health laboratory network in human and animal health sectors, having a nationwide AMR surveillance system in place along with a national early warning system to identify early the emergence of resistance in priority pathogens and to critical antimicrobials by 2022. To implement strategic objective 3 related to strengthening of hygiene, infection prevention and control, a national infection prevention and control programme would be implemented in compliance with IPC guidelines within healthcare settings, animal husbandry systems and food production systems. To implement strategic objective 4 related to optimising use of antimicrobial medicines, a national AMR containment policy would be announced along with a series of measures on Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes (AMSP) and Standard Treatment Guidelines (STG) at the national scale for prudent use of antimicrobials. Moreover, mechanisms would be established to monitor antimicrobial usage on a national scale to inform interventions to reduce overuse and promote prudent use of antimicrobial substances. To implement strategic objective 5 related to building a case for sustainable investments for new medicines, diagnostic tools/vaccines/aids that help bring down use of AMR, it is being mooted to build institutional capacity in the context of research on AMR. A strategic research agenda that is relevant to the Myanmar context will be developed and implemented.
In terms of governance, the governance mechanism for Myanmar will comprise of a High Level National Multi-sectoral Steering Committee (NMSC), for antimicrobial resistance. The NMSC will provide the necessary political commitment and support for national AMR containment efforts in Myanmar and to the international global health community. NMSC will be supported by a National AMR Coordinating Centre and multi-sectoralTechnical Working Groups.