Global South Must Lead AMR Fight: IFCAI
IFCAI president B. Ranga Reddy Burri calls for Global South-led, locally tailored strategies to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
The Global South must play a stronger role in shaping strategies to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with solutions tailored to local healthcare systems, infection patterns and resources, said Prof. Dr. B. Ranga Reddy Burri, president of the Infection Control Academy of India (IFCAI).
Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call at the BRICS Summit for the Global South to move from the front row of crises to the front row of decision‑making, Dr Burri said the approach was particularly relevant to the global fight against AMR.
“The Global South carries a disproportionate burden of antimicrobial resistance, but solutions cannot simply be designed in one part of the world and transferred to another. The realities of antimicrobial use, infection prevention, diagnostics, surveillance and healthcare delivery vary across countries,” he said.
He stressed that AMR strategies must be locally relevant, evidence‑based, affordable and scalable, with greater involvement of professionals working on the ground. Infection prevention and control should be central to AMR containment, reducing antimicrobial use, limiting resistant organisms and improving patient safety, he added.