On March 16, 2023, Health and Global Policy Institute (HGPI) submitted opinions (public comments) regarding “National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance 2023-2027 (Draft)”. (The call for public comments is now closed.)

An outline of the submitted opinions is provided below. For further details, please refer to the PDF file.

Summary

Since Japan’s National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) came into effect in 2016, efforts to combat AMR have been made by the Government of Japan as well as through joint action from industry, government academia, and civil society. In addition to measures taken within its borders, Japan must continue leading global efforts against AMR in its capacity as a G7 member. Looking ahead to the 2024 UNGA High-level Meeting on AMR, we offer the following four recommendations for consideration during the formulation of the National Action Plan on AMR (2023-2027) (“the next NAP”).

Recommendation 1: Revision of package inserts should be proactively considered taking into account the actual situation at health care facilities (Related to Goal 2)

Recommendation 2: The Government should take the lead in creating and standardizing English names used within the medical service fee system and for related items and by establishing master databases for data related to healthcare and pharmaceuticals (Related to Goals 2, 3, and 6)

Recommendation 3: Steps should be taken to develop human resources and establish an environment to facilitate proactive AMR screening, microorganism identification, and drug susceptibility testing (including genetic testing through nucleic acid amplification tests) (Related to Goals 1, 2, and 5)

Recommendation 4: When providing final evaluations, the National Action Plan should include both outcome and process indicators that can used in a manner that allows for comparisons by regional characteristics (Related to National Action Plan performance indicators)