WHO AWaRe strategy and antimicrobial stewardship to combat antimicrobial resistance: An Indian perspective

Antimicrobial resistance is a serious problem to solve especially in developing countries like India. Antibiotic use in India increased several times since 2005. Many studies in India have reported inappropriate and overuse of antibiotics which could be one of the possible reasons for increased antibiotic resistance in country. This is an important and urgent issue that mandate strict regulations regarding rational use of antibiotics. World Health Organization (WHO) has done major revision in essential medicines list which classify antibiotics in three categories (access, watch and reserve) to ensure the availability and correct use of antibiotics. Several countries started antimicrobial stewardship programme to promote appropriate use of antibiotics, reduce antibiotic resistance as well as financial burden. Indian government implemented national action plan on antibiotic resistance in 2017 with the aim of prompting rational use of antibiotics but it is still in its formative stage as all stewardship components are yet to be implemented. This review emphasizes on the importance and the need for implementing WHO’s AWaRe classification and antimicrobial stewardship to promote rational antibiotic use in country.