NGOs, academics, private sector stakeholders and global private actors attended a session in Jeddah on the Red Sea on Thursday, ahead of the Fourth World Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance. It discussed cross-sector coordination to address antimicrobial resistance, “one of the most pressing global health threats and development challenges.”
More than 450 participants from 57 countries, including 48 ministers and vice-ministers, and leading international and civil society organizations, including UN offices and agencies, are expected to attend the conference.
The objective is to move “from declaration to implementation” through multi-sectoral partnerships in the fight against drug-resistant antimicrobial resistance, which has devastating health, economic and societal impacts, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
A silent epidemic
When antimicrobial drugs stop being effective against microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites, the situation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) arises. Drug resistance renders antibiotics and other antimicrobial drugs ineffective, makes treatment of infections difficult or impossible, and increases the risk of disease spread, serious illness, disability, and death.
In a political declaration adopted by the General Assembly, world leaders committed to reducing deaths due to antimicrobial resistance by 10 percent by 2030. In addition, an appeal has been made at the national level to secure $100 million in funding in this area to support AMR-focused plans in at least 60 percent of countries by 2030.
It also formalized the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on Antimicrobial Resistance comprising the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Development Program (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Speaking at the event, Fahad Al-Jalajel, Minister of Health of host country Saudi Arabia, said that since antimicrobial resistance affects humans, animals and the environment equally, a “one health” approach is needed to tackle it.
“The Jeddah meeting is an important opportunity to strengthen our collective global response to the threat of this growing, silent epidemic,” he said.
The meeting will discuss priorities such as monitoring and management, capacity building, financing, innovation, research and development.
Political commitment is needed at the highest level
UN News spoke to Catherine Urbaz, executive director of the Geneva-based non-governmental organization (NGO) Health Diplomacy Alliance in Jeddah, to provide insight into the global conference.
Catherine Urbaz emphasized the need to move from promises to concrete action, saying that the General Assembly’s political declaration and the Jeddah conference were major steps in the right direction that would ensure that political solidarity would continue. He said, if there is political will, it is possible to implement the promise. But this requires the establishment of “a monitoring and accountability mechanism”.
He said, “We need to adopt a holistic global health approach to tackling the problem of antimicrobial resistance. I think it is important to involve leaders at the highest level, not just the Minister of Health, Environment, Agriculture or Finance. We need political commitment to advance the AMR policy and the ‘One Health’ vision.
Serious threat to health
Julian Nyamupachitu, React Africa’s deputy director for action on AMR in low- and middle-income countries, says the problem is complex, compounded by a lack of funding in some countries and sometimes “a lack of political will on the part of governments.” It has to contend with other health issues.” This sometimes makes it difficult to move from policy documents to action.
Julian Nyamupacitu explained that his organization ReAct Africa helps countries prioritize appropriate and more practical issues when reviewing and evaluating new national plans, so WHO can support policy-making with cost and budget tools.
He said the political manifesto was an improvement on the progress made before 2016, but there needed to be commitments “not just targets” on funding.
He said that the theme of the conference “Moving from Declaration to Implementation” is very timely. He expressed hope that the ministers would make a serious commitment in Jeddah, saying, “I believe that awareness has increased. He appreciated the information shared. “This is truly a global health threat that is not only affecting the health, agriculture, environment and animal sectors, but has also become an economic problem.”‘
‘The Antibiotics Market Has Collapsed’
Michael Peters, representative of the secretariat of the AMR Industry Alliance, said the antibiotics were “very different” from any other product on the market. While the goal of other products is to “maximize sales,” the goal of antibiotics is to “get the right medicine to the right person when it’s needed.” So this business is not always profitable.
He also noted that developing antibiotics requires an “incredible amount of time and investment” and that in many cases the drugs don’t even reach the market. So “the market for antibiotics is broken.”
Michael Peters says there is a serious lack of government funding and incentives for antibiotic research and development, but the big concern is that unlike research into diseases like cancer, “researchers are leaving the lab.”
The private sector representative said much progress had been made since AMR’s first high-level meeting in 2016, but much remained to be done and “no one can tackle this problem alone.”
He said the Jeddah Conference and the Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Forum meetings were important both in terms of “what’s on paper” but also “what actually happens”.