Thailand to reduce drug-resistance patients by half by 2021

BANGKOK, October 29 (TNA) - The Thai government has targeted to reduce the number of drug-resistance patients by 50 per cent by 2021. Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Grisada Boonrach told journalists on Monday that the target is based on the Thai government's strategy on the management of resistance against the antimicro-organism drug 2017-2021, covering the antineoplastic drug, which has been approved by the Thai Cabinet since August 2016. "Under the strategy,relevant Thai ministries have worked together in an integrated aspect, aimed to reduce the number of drug-resistance patients in the country by half by 2021 as targeted, as well as to reduce the use of antimicro-organism drug in humans by 20 per cent and in animals, while proper information has also been provided to the public on drug resistance and the appropriate use of the antimicro-organism drug", said the minister. According to the minister, the Thai strategy also complies with such the strategy of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organation (FAO). The minister made the remarks prior to his departure for a world forum on the management of the resistance against the antimicro-organism drug used in animals, the second of its kind organized by the Paris-based OIE in Morocco's Marrakesh City, in which his counterparts from more than 10 other countries will also participate, including those from Germany, Japan, Norway, Canada, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Argentina. (TNA)