KABUL - The Afghan Ministry of Public Health and the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) are warning that urgent action is needed to curb excessive use of antibiotics and other antimicrobials or the world risks returning to an era before the discovery of these medicines.

“We are seeing now a decline in the cure rates of diseases due to the development by all kinds of microorganisms - bacteria, viruses and parasites - of resistance against drugs, which results in a weakening of the response of antimicrobials and, consequently, reduction in their effect,” Dr Ahmed Shadoul, Acting WHO Representative of Afghanistan, said at an event on Wednesday marking International World Health Day 2011.

This year’s theme, "Combat drug resistance: no action today means no cure tomorrow”, highlights the potential dangers of overusing antimicrobials, which also include chemotherapeutic agents, antifungals, antiparasitic medicines and antivirals.

A survey conducted in Kabul, Balkh, Herat, Kandahar and Nangarhar provinces revealed that more than half of the clients in primary health care facilities and more than 90 percent of inpatients received antibiotics, said Dr Surya Dalil, Acting Minister of Public Health.

As a result, drug resistance is a major issue in the treatment of some infectious diseases, including tuberculosis which has been called one of Afghanistan’s greatest threats by health officials in the country.

More than 50,000 people in Afghanistan last year tested positive for the disease, almost 70 per cent of them women, according to the WHO.

In their remarks, Representative Shadoul and Minister Dalil made a series of recommendations to policy makers, health professionals, pharmaceutical companies, civil society to promote more rationale use of medicines.

Also speaking at the event, the Head of the Health Commission of the Parliament, Naqibullah Faiq, said the Commission is committed to strengthening the Ministry of Public Health’s capacity at the national and provincial levels to closely monitor the importation and use of poor quality antibiotics and other drugs.

By UNAMA Kabul