The government is working with stakeholders to develop a national action plan to help combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Timor-Leste.
The General Director of the ministry’s Health Achievement Department, Dr Odete Viegas,said AMR was linked to the irrational use of antibiotics.
She said all sectors needed to make efforts to combat AMR across the country, particularly private clinics and pharmacies.
“We need to disseminate information to them (stakeholders) so they can provide constructive ideas to help develop a good action plan to prevent the irrational use of antibiotics in the future,” she said at a meeting to discuss AMR in Timor-Leste at Hotel Timor in Dili.
Antimicrobial resistance is accelerated by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics. As a result many medications are no longer effective in treating the bacteria, parasites, fungi and viruses that cause disease.
Dr Viegas said the Health Ministry had established a taskforce at the national level, including focal points in the municipalities, to educate communities on the correct use of antibiotics.
“One of our weaknesses is that people have easy access to medication because it is sold everywhere and when they have a bit of a fever they just go and buy antibiotics and take them,” she said.
Antibiotics are used to treat a range of infections and diseases caused by bacteria, parasites, fungi and viruses, but should only be taken with a doctor’s prescription, she said.
Although the Health Ministry has already developed standard treatment guidelines (STG), Dr Viegas said a more specific policy was needed on the use of antibiotics, particularly in terms of the quantity of medication provided by health personnel to patients.
She said a judicial team from the Health Ministry is currently developing pharmaceutical legislation, which is due to be completed soon.
The aim of the legislation is to better regulate pharmacies and private clinics within Timor to ensure that communities have better access to quality medication that is not harmful to their health.
Meanwhile, World Health Organization (WHO) representative in Timor-Leste Dr Rajesh Pandav said the country needed to do many things to develop in terms of planning and policy in order to address the issue of AMR.
“We have been raising awareness and have told communities to only use medication with a doctor’s prescription and to take the full course,” he said.
He also urged pharmacies not to sell antibiotics to people without a doctor’s prescription.
He said WHO has supported the Health Ministry to produce and distribute pamphlets on AMR in local language, as well as advertisements for radio and national TV.
He said AMR was a major challenge facing WHO today and had been identified as a priority global public health issue.
The result of antimicrobial resistance was a longer duration of illness and an increased number of deaths. It also has an economic impact, due to the higher healthcare costs associated with treating patients with drug-resistant infections.
Meanwhile, the National Director of Veterinary, Antonio do Carmo, said antimicrobial resistance effected both animals and humans.
“Misusing antibiotics can lead to resistance in animals and the human body,” he said.
He said although the Ministry of Agriculture had already implemented a good control mechanism for the use of antibiotics in animals, he agreed with the introduction of an integrated method for both humans and animals.
However, infection specialist Dr Danina Coelho said the national laboratory did not yet have the capacity to identify micro-organisms such as bacteria, parasites and viruses affecting patients, but doctors still sometimes wrote prescriptions without having a proper medical diagnosis.
For this reason, often the medication provided by doctors did not work properly.
