Countries call for accelerated action against Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) at the upcoming UN General Assembly High Level Meeting (UNHLM) to be held in September.
The call came from a strategic roundtable on “Charting a new path forward for global action against AMR” held in Geneva on Friday at the sideline of the 77th World Health Assembly.
AMR is a problem driven by misuse and overuse of antimicrobial medicines, including antibiotics and antivirals, and results in critical medicines losing effectiveness to treat infections, said Thomas Joseph, head, AMR Awareness, Advocacy and Campaigns, World Health Organization (WHO).
“AMR is associated with 5 million deaths a year. Besides this, there is the huge burden of morbidity and healthcare expenditure that can affect household welfare severely. The World Bank estimates that Global GDP could fall by $1 to $3.4 trillion annually after 2030 due to AMR,” he added.
The World Bank estimates that an additional 24 million people would be forced into extreme poverty by 2030 if no action is taken on AMR today.
Bangladesh has strategies to combat this menace. However, implementation remains a challenge.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was a member of the Global Leaders Group on AMR.
Study: 70% of bacteria found in nature resistant to antibioticsAmong the top-10 global health threats
“AMR is a growing and urgent crisis which is already a leading cause of untimely deaths globally. More than 2 people die of AMR every single minute,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO.
“AMR threatens to unwind centuries of progress in human health, animal health, and other sectors,” he said.
Dr Peter Piot, Professor of Global Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) who has held leadership positions at LSHTM, UNAIDS and WHO earlier, chaired the roundtable.
“AMR is a gathering storm that threatens a century of progress in medicine. Each year, drug-resistant bacteria claim more than a million lives globally, especially in low and middle-income countries. Yet this crisis is still a silent one. We take for granted that infections that once spelled death are routinely cured with antibiotics. In the age of ever more advanced and personalized medicine, we have grown complacent about these marvels that allowed us to bring infections under control,” he said.
The latest Lancet series released last week on sustainable access to effective antibiotics has listed three targets: 10% reduction in deaths from antibiotic resistance, 20% reduction in inappropriate human antibiotic use, and 30% reduction in inappropriate animal antibiotic use.
“AMR has set the stage for advancing the One Health approach – which is a recognition that our health is intrinsically intertwined with animal health, food and agriculture and our environment. We have the evidence-based tools to fully implement and deliver on the above 3 targets,” said Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan of One Health Trust, who is one of the authors of The Lancet series.
Put affected communities at the centre to responses
Vanessa Carter, chairperson of the WHO Taskforce of AMR Survivors, shared her traumatic personal experience of surviving AMR.
She met with a severe car accident in 2004 that resulted in massive multiple injuries that took ten years to recover, during which time she had multiple facial prosthetic implants.
Seven years into the accident, Vanessa was eventually diagnosed with a highly antibiotic resistant form of MRSA infection.
She survived, but with a severe disability- facial disfiguration which was partially caused by the accident but exacerbated by the fact that no antibiotics could treat that infection.
“It was very difficult to look into the mirror back then and watch how antimicrobial resistant infections were eating my skin away,” said Vanessa Carter. “We have to bring human impact to the centre of AMR response.”
Youth Manifesto on AMR
A youth manifesto on AMR that was prepared by an inclusive and consultative process and co-created by the young people worldwide, was launched earlier this month at the UN.
“We must address AMR with One Health approach and enhance multidisciplinary action against AMR. Future of us, the young people, is at stake,” said Audrey Wong, Chair, Quadripartite Working Group for Youth Engagement on AMR.
“If we do not address AMR timely and effectively there will not be much of a future left for us,” remarked Dr Peter Piot.
No excuse for inaction
Dr Peter Piot, however, sees solutions to the problem.
“This is preventable through global leadership, research and the right incentives. We must reserve antibiotics for genuine need, while aggressively developing new drugs, diagnostics, vaccines and non-pharmaceutical options,” Dr Piot said.
“And we must ensure second and third-line antibiotics are commercially viable once on the market. Just as urgent is publicly and globally sharing national data on emerging resistance. There is no time to lose: we must act decisively today to fight AMR or lose much of the hard gained progress in health and modern medicine tomorrow.”
Hope for accelerated action
The United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting (UNHLM) on AMR will be held in September 2024.
“We are not on track on the commitments our world leaders made when they met at the UNHLM on AMR held in 2016. I hope commitments that come out of UNHLM on AMR in 2024 will be taken more seriously,” said Dr Peter Piot said.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, Special Envoy on AMR for UK and a member of Global Leaders Group on AMR, hoped that the upcoming UN event would “prioritise prevention, access, governance, and accountability.”
“It should truly address the needs of the most vulnerable communities. There should be fair and equitable access to antibiotics and diagnostics, embedded in a better system of WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), infection prevention and control, vaccines, and prevention with responsible stewardship.”
