Washington DC, 18 April 2022 (PAHO) - The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the University Center for Pharmacology (CUFAR)—a PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center belonging to the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the National University of La Plata, Argentina—are collaborating with countries of the Americas to record national consumption of antimicrobials, following the World Health Organization (WHO) methodology. Recently, Bermuda, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago have started collecting information on antimicrobial consumption during 2020.
The data collection and recording tool provided by PAHO/WHO is a validated method that allows each country to monitor annual consumption, identify fluctuations in total consumption and in the consumption of each individual medicine, and receive warnings of excess consumption. The methodology also allows data to be exported to the global antimicrobial resistance surveillance system (GLASS).
These countries join six others that have already recorded their consumption in 2019 and 2020: Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Paraguay, and Peru. By using the same tool, countries around the world can compare current consumption with their own data for previous years, and with other countries. This comparison makes it possible to detect opportunities for improvement in the rational use of antimicrobials and define public policies aimed at optimizing their use in order to achieve a reduction in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in their territories.
Antimicrobial use is one of the main determinants of AMR. Consequently, surveillance of antimicrobials and optimal use of these medicines are among the key strategies to combat AMR, and most national plans address them.
This initiative is part of the project "Working together to fight antimicrobial resistance", implemented with support from the European Union, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
