- The youth wing of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math (AYUDH) organises bicycle rallies - with the theme, “Cycle Against AMR—Go Blue”, across the country and abroad to create awareness among the public about the need for hygiene practices, and avoidance of misuse of antibiotics to contain antimicrobial resistance.
Mumbai, November 25, 2021: Antimicrobial resistance, the ability of microorganisms to defeat antibiotics, is a ‘slow pandemic’, and is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development. There is an urgent need to create awareness among the public about the need for following hygiene practices,and avoiding misuse of antibiotics to contain this growing medical challenge, urged speakers of Amrita Legion of Antimicrobial Resistance Management (ALARM) 2021, a three-day international colloquium on antimicrobial resistance, held virtually, between November 19-21, 2021. Amrita School of Biotechnology of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham organized the event.
The speakers pointed out that the antimicrobial resistance occurs naturally, when pathogens change over time. However, misuse of antibiotics in humans and animals is accelerating the process. As a result, treating infections is becoming increasingly harder. Increased medical costs, longer hospital stays, and higher rates of mortality are some of the other fallouts of growing antimicrobial resistance.
ALARM 2021, was organized by the Amrita School of Biotechnology to coincide with WHO’s World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, observed annually during November 18-24. This International event comprised of invited scientific talks by renowned experts around the world as well as student competitions centred around AMR. The third day of this International event was focused on bicycle rallies, which were organized by the youth wing of the Mata Amritanandamayi Math (AYUDH), across the country in several Indian cities including Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, and Mysuru, as well as in cities across Europe and North America to create awareness about antimicrobial resistance.
Dr. Bipin Nair, Dean, Amrita School of Biotechnology, in his welcome address emphasized the need for adopting ‘One Health’, a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach, which envisages the health of not only people but also animals, plants, and the shared environment. Delivering his keynote address, Dr. Victor Nizet, University of California, UC San Diego School of Medicine, said that antimicrobial resistance represents a complex global problem, which needs innovative and effective remedies as well as collective action through international cooperation.
In his special address, Dr. Vishwa Mohan Katoch, former Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research, emphasized the need to shape regulatory policies in the healthcare industry to tackle antimicrobial resistance. He said that there are several socio-economic and cultural factors involved making the fight against antimicrobial resistance much more challenging. He added that doctors must exercise caution and discretion while prescribing antibiotics and help combat this problem.
Dr. Anand Anandkumar, CEO, Bugworks Research, Bengaluru, said that antimicrobial resistance is like a slow pandemic. It is also one of the biggest health threats that humanity faces. India is at the epicentre of this health crisis and will be a very important region to provide solutions to this global crisis.
Mr. Pranav, and Ms. Apurva Johri, founders of Vitalis Phage Therapy, talked about the effectiveness of using phages, types of viruses that infect bacteria, in treating diseases that do not respond to antibiotics. They said that colloquiums such as ALARM can help doctors, clinicians, researchers, and policy makers gain an understanding of and sensitivity to the problem of antibiotic resistance, which is going to be the biggest medical challenge in the coming decades.
About Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is a multi-campus, multidisciplinary Institution of Eminence accredited by NAAC.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (www.amrita.edu) is a very young University (18 years of age) growing at a rapid pace in terms of its research and academic programs. Today we are ranked in the Top 100 universities in the World for its Impact as per THE 2021 Impact Rankings) (www.amrita.edu/rankings). In India, as per the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF), we are ranked as the 4th best university amongst all public and private universities. Recently we were also the youngest University in India to be accredited with the highest grade of A++ by National Accreditation Council (NAAC), Government of India
Amrita partners with academic, industry and governmental institutions across the world to accomplish human-centered, translational, and groundbreaking research. To date, Amrita has more than 500 collaborations from more than 200 signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs). Some of Amrita’s partners include Harvard University, Columbia University, King’s College London, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, VU Amsterdam, the British Geological Society, University of Oxford, Italian National Research Council, Deakin University, and the University of Tokyo. Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma), a world-renowned humanitarian leader is the founder, Chancellor, and guiding light of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Amma’s words, thoughts, and vision for education and research have shaped the university’s mission and vision.
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