Nepal Public Health Foundation in collaboration with The One Health Trust and The Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP) organised a workshop on ‘Antimicrobial Resistance and Vaccines’ in Kathmandu on Thursday.

Welcoming the participants Dr Paras K. Pokharel, Chair of GARP Nepal, expressed his belief that people soon will realise that vaccines are the most viable and sustainable tool to combat AMR.

Also speaking, Dr Sameer Mani Dixit, principal investigator of GARP-Nepal, said the veterinary sector should be equally prioritised if we wish to achieve our goal of AMR containment.

Rishiraj Bhagawati, senior research analyst, at The One Health Trust, said vaccines can help reduce overall disease burden, thereby also reducing antimicrobial drug consumption among the population.

“Reduced antibiotic consumption would in turn reduce antimicrobial resistance as there would be less evolutionary selection of resistant genes. This will affect not only the disease that the vaccine targets, but also other pathogens that might be exposed in the same environment,” he said.

Dr Abhilasha Karkey, vice-chair of GARP Nepal and Director of Oxford University Clinical Research Unit suggests that the economic benefit of vaccines over disease treatment and antimicrobial consumption is very high.

Likewise, Dr Urmila Lama, medical officer, the Family Welfare Division of the Ministry of Health, stressed the investment in vaccines.

“The benefits of investment in vaccines are multifold. Even if a vaccinated person gets infected, the severity is low in comparison to the non-vaccinated person,” she said.

Dr Nabaraj Shrestha, veterinary officer, of the Department of Livestock Services, said that the use of antibiotics as growth promoters in feed is banned in Nepal.

“Farmers are not well aware of the prudent use of antibiotics that is one important challenge that needs to be addressed properly,” he said.

Also speaking Dr Rupendra Chaulagain said the vaccination programme on the livestock sector should also prioritise livestock industry like poultry which is the main source of meat in Nepal.

Dr Pradeep Kumar Gupta, paediatrician at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital said that data suggest that the burden of AMR is very high.

An effective stewardship program would help combat AMR more efficiently,” he said.

Dr. Ramesh Kant Adhikari, Chair of the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group, said vaccines have become the victim of their own success.

“As vaccines have minimized infection and disease burden, people sometimes understate their importance as the cases are not found anymore. Promoting vaccine as an AMR containment tool is much required and timely initiative,” he said.

All the participants unanimously agreed that AMR is a very complex issue which requires actions from all stakeholders, said the organisers.