Honorable dr Ratu Atonio Rabici Lalabalavu
Event: Closing Remarks at the Antimicrobial Awareness Week
Venue: FPBS
Date: Monday 24th November 2025
Time: 08.15am – 09.15am
Salutation:
• Dr. Mark Jacobs, The Director of Pacific Technical Support and WHO Representative to the South Pacific
• Senior officials of the Ministry of Health and Medical Services
• Our technical officers, clinicians, nurses, pharmacists, and laboratory professionals
• Representatives from partner agencies and institutions
• Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen
A very good morning to you all.
It is my privilege to join you today as we gather to conclude the 2025 Antimicrobial Awareness Week with this Workshop for the Central Division, under the theme “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance Together”. This gathering brings together an impressive and diverse team — of clinicians like Dr. Ravi, nurse and EPI National Coordinator Sister Litiana, our laboratory experts, IPC officers, veterinary professionals such as Dr. Magiri, representatives from Oceania Hospital, the FCGP, and many others who are committed to safeguarding Fiji’s health system. Your presence reflects a shared commitment to confronting one of most urgent health threats of our time: antimicrobial resistance, or AMR.
Every year, this week serves as a powerful reminder that antibiotics and other antimicrobials are among the most valuable tools in modern medicine. Yet today, they are under threat. As we have heard repeatedly from the World Health Organization and from our own data, antimicrobial resistance compromises our ability to treat common infections, increases the risk of complications and mortality, and places significant strain on our hospitals, our families, and our economy.
AMR isaffecting patient outcomes across our facilities. We hear stories of resistance patterns, treatment failures, delayed recoveries and infections that no longer respond to first-line medicines. These are early warnings we cannot ignore.
Our national efforts are anchored in the National AMR Action Plan, which calls for stronger stewardship, improved surveillance, robust infection prevention and control, and a One Health approach across human, animal, and environmental sectors. The work of our clinicians, pharmacists, laboratory officers, environmental health teams and veterinary colleagues all connects to this shared mission. A mission that is reflected in today’s workshop through presentations on antimicrobial stewardship, infection prevention and control, vaccination, AMR surveillance, genome sequencing, animal health updates, and research from our own facilities. We are strengthening the expertise that drives this action plan forward. This is not the end of our efforts and work must continue beyond this week — every day, in every facility, in every department.
World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is simply a reminder. The real change happens throughout the year — through careful prescribing, proper dispensing, good hygiene, appropriate diagnostics, consistent hand washing, and strong infection control practices. It happens when clinicians follow the national antibiotic guidelines, when laboratories strengthen surveillance, when pharmacists promote rational use, when veterinarians and agricultural partners ensure responsible use in animals, and when community members understand the risks of misuse.
I want to commend all of you who continue to champion these efforts, especially those who have contributed to research and training this week — from enhancing blood culture collection practices to strengthening stewardship programs and IPC standards. Your work saves lives.
I would also like to acknowledge our long-standing partnership with the World Health Organization, particularly the guidance and technical support from Dr. Mark Jacobs and the WHO Pacific team. Fiji is stronger because of your collaboration.
As we carry today’s discussions into our respective workplaces, I urge each of you to remain dedicated to the principles of stewardship and prevention. AMR is a challenge we cannot defeat through awareness week alone — it demands ongoing commitment, accountability, and collaboration. Let us all leave here with renewed determination to protect the effectiveness of antimicrobials, safeguard our health system, and secure a healthier future for all Fijians.
With these words, I officially close the 2025 Antimicrobial Awareness Week with this Workshop.
I wish you a productive and impactful session ahead.
Vinaka vakalevu.