Antibiotics Resistance: Taking the road not yet taken

As the architect of the Chennai Declaration, possibly the first-ever attempt to draw up a roadmap to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in India, Abdul Ghafur who has had a ringside view of the march of deadly resistant bacteria as an infectious diseases specialist, has watched the progress of the movement over the last decade. And he is convinced that the time is ripe to tread the path not taken yet in handling AMR in the country. Citing multi-sourced global evidence to bolster his readings of the situation, he says the roadmap to handling AMR should be changed, for the developing world at least, and for India certainly. Antibiotics stewardship cannot be the only route ahead, he argues. Equally important, he says, is improving sanitation, and involving the common people in battling deadly resistant bacterial infections, in a chat with Ramya Kannan.