India Media Alliance on Antimicrobial Resistance (IMAAR) launched today
Indian chapter of Global Antimicrobial Resistance Media Alliance (GAMA) was launched today at Press Club of India in Delhi, India. The Indian chapter of GAMA is formally called “India Media Alliance on AMR” (IMAAR) and launch ceremony was part of a media workshop hosted by ReAct Asia Pacific on the theme: “AMR: The Silent Pandemic – let media break the silence.”
All media is welcome to join GAMA and/or India chapter: www.bit.ly/globalamrmedia
Dr SS Lal, Director of ReAct Asia Pacific said that AMR is among top 10 global health threats today. Media engagement can make a difference in addressing this global health challenge and encouraging stronger actions to stop misuse and overuse of medicines in human health, animal health and livestock, food and agriculture and our environment.
Shobha Shukla, Chairperson of Global AMR Media Alliance (GAMA) and Lead Discussant for SDG-3 at United Nations High Level Political Forum 2025 (HLPF 2025) said that we need to engage media in India to help support communications around translating global promises enshrined in UNHLM on AMR Political Declaration 2024 into public health impact – as well as National and State Action Plans on AMR as relevant (among other commitments like UNHLM on TB, NCDs, UHCs outcome documents etc) or other programmes addressing drug resistance (like National TB Elimination Programme or NTEP, One Health Commission, among others).
We also need to engage media across sectors (those reporting on human health, animal health, food and agriculture, and environment and climate, health science, among others), said Shobha Shukla.
Launch of India Media Alliance on AMR (IMAAR) took place among presence of senior journalists like Swapna Majumdar, and distinguished AMR leaders including Dr SS Lal, Dr Ijyaa Singh, Dr Hyfa Ali and Dr Salman Khan of ReAct Asia Pacific; Dr Sangeeta Sharma of Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD), Dr Sarabjit Chadha of FIND, noted microbiologist Dr Narender Saini, Dr Sam Prasad of AHF India Cares, Pooja Mishra of Youth Lead Voices and National Coalition of People Living with HIV in India (NCPI Plus), Bhakti Chavan who is XDR-TB survivor and member of WHO Task Force of AMR Survivors, among others.
1st Edition of India AMR Media Awards 2025:
Join IMAAR and GAMA: www.bit.ly/globalamrmedia
1st Edition of India AMR Media Awards 2025 will be announced around 15 August 2025, India’s Independence Day. We need to save the medicines that protect us, said Shobha Shukla.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top global public health and development threats. It is estimated that bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019 and contributed to 4.95 million deaths in a year. The misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals and plants are the main drivers in the development of drug-resistant pathogens. In addition to death and disability, AMR has significant economic costs. The World Bank estimates that AMR could result in US$ 1 trillion additional healthcare costs by 2050, and US$ 1 trillion to US$ 3.4 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) losses per year by 2030.
