Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal warned that antimicrobial resistance has become a national security and economic threat for Pakistan, urging urgent policy action during a high-level dialogue in Islamabad. The event, convened by the Health Services Academy under its One Health Workforce Development and Coordination project, brought together human and animal health experts, regulators and sector stakeholders to press for tighter controls on antibiotic use.
Vice Chancellor Prof Shahzad Ali Khan delivered a candid assessment of the country’s response, saying antimicrobial resistance cannot be contained without confronting the massive and largely unregulated use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry, where drugs are often consumed in kilograms rather than therapeutic doses. He stressed that addressing only human prescriptions while ignoring farm-level use will ensure continued failure.
Prof Shahzad outlined steps already taken by the academy to operationalise One Health, including training master trainers, developing a formal One Health curriculum and initiating structured policy dialogue with livestock, poultry, agriculture and environment sectors. He emphasised that One Health is a governance model recognising the interconnectedness of humans, animals and the environment, not a slogan.
National Coordinator One Health Prof Tariq Mahmood Ali warned that antimicrobial resistance is an active global emergency, noting it directly caused about 1.27 million deaths in 2019 and was linked to nearly five million deaths overall, with one in five of those among children under five. He cautioned that deaths could exceed 39 million worldwide by 2050 and highlighted the severe economic impact, with global GDP losses potentially reaching $3.4 trillion annually by 2030 and treatment costs for drug resistant infections rising beyond $400 billion a year by 2035. He also noted Pakistan’s antibiotic use is far above the global average, with around 60 percent of prescriptions containing antibiotics and resistance in common bacteria exceeding 50 percent in some settings.
Dr Obaidullah, Chief Executive Officer of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, outlined a regulatory package designed to fundamentally change how antibiotics are sold and used. Once approved by provincial assemblies and the federal cabinet, antibiotics would only be sold on prescription, ending over-the-counter availability. Watch and Reserve group antibiotics would face tighter controls and could only be prescribed by consultants, while antibiotics reserved for intensive care would not be available at community pharmacies and would be limited to hospital pharmacies where clinically required.
Participants from human health, livestock, agriculture, environment and regulatory bodies agreed that antimicrobial resistance cannot be tackled by the health sector alone. They called for removal of bottlenecks in implementing the National Action Plan on AMR, strengthened surveillance across human and animal health, regulation of antibiotic use from farm to pharmacy, and investment in a trained One Health workforce to coordinate prevention and response. Speakers warned that preserving the effectiveness of last-line drugs is essential to protect public health, food security and Pakistan’s economy and defence.
Speakers urged that public awareness and regulation move in parallel so Pakistan can reduce the rising tide of antimicrobial resistance and avert the broader social and economic shocks that unchecked drug resistance would bring.
