Health Minister Elijah Muchima says Zambia is among countries that have had a high resistance to some commonly used antibiotics and other antimicrobials in major hospitals.
Dr. Muchima who revealed this during the high level meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly said Zambia has recorded an 80 percent resistance to some of the commonly used and readily available antibiotics and antimicrobials rendering them ineffective.
He noted that Antimicrobial resistance remains a major global public health threat to both the global food security and attainment of the 2030 sustainable development goals.
Meanwhile, Dr. Muchima told the assembly that in response to the 2015 call to action by the World Health Assembly, Zambia had in 2017, developed and has been implementing a comprehensive 10-year multi-sectoral national action plan for AMR.
This is according to a statement issued by Ministry of Health Public Relations and Communications Unit.