E-DRUG: Act now, or face catastrophic post-antibiotic era!
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[This is again the week of the WHO Assembly in Geneva. Many pressing issues
are being discussed.
Agenda and papers can be found here: http://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_wha67.html
Below a press release of the Antibiotic Resistance Coalition about the
biggest essential medicines disaster that we will face (a world without
antibiotics), unless we ACT NOW!
Cross-posted from TWN Info with thanks. The "official" WHO paper is here:
http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA67/A67_39-en.pdf
WB]
Title : TWN Info: Act now, or face catastrophic post-antibiotic era
Antibiotic Resistance Coalition
Press Release
22 May, 2014
Act now, or face catastrophic post-antibiotic era
Global civil society coalition issues grave warning to World Health
Assembly,urges leadership and action
GENEVA—The Antibiotic Resistance Coalition, comprising civil society
organisations and stakeholders from multiple sectors on six continents, has
called on World Health Organization (WHO) Member States to pass a critical
resolution (Combating antimicrobial resistance, including antibiotic
resistance) at the 67th World Health Assembly that would spark concerted
global action to control the escalating antimicrobial resistance crisis.
“Antimicrobial resistance—and particularly antibiotic resistance—is the most
pressing public health issue facing the global community,” said Otto Cars,
founder of ReAct (Action on Antibiotic Resistance). “If the resolution is
not passed, and the WHO and its Member States do not act quickly, there will
be disastrous global health consequences.”
Public health researchers estimate that, each year, millions of people
around the world are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and
hundreds of thousands of them die. Without immediate action, that toll is
expected to worsen.
“We are on the precipice of a post-antibiotic era,” said Tim Reed, executive
director of Health Action International. “Without a radical shift in the way
antibiotics are marketed and used—and unless we overcome the gap in
antibiotics discovery—antibiotic resistance will continue to become one of
the greatest threats to humankind.”
The Antibiotic Resistance Coalition, in its declaration released today,
asserts that consumer protection and public health must trump the pursuit of
profit, and that effective antibiotics are global public goods. The
Coalition also calls for international leadership and action to, in part:
• Prohibit the promotion and advertising of antibiotics;
• Promote new, needs-driven and open research and development models based
on the principle of de-linkage (divorcing price from research and
development costs and sales volumes);
• Phase out the use of antimicrobials for routine disease prevention in
livestock, and end their use, altogether, for growth promotion;
• Build robust systems, in all countries, to monitor and report antibiotic
use and resistance trends in humans and animals; and
• Improve public awareness to support an ecological understanding of
human-bacteria interaction and behaviour change around antibiotic use.
“Member States must deliver a strong mandate to the WHO to not only develop
a pressing action plan on antimicrobial resistance, but also to ensure that
public health is prioritised over commercial interests,” said Yoke
Ling-Chee, program director with Third World Network. “Access to affordable
and effective antibiotics is of particular importance for developing
countries.”
WHO Member States are tentatively scheduled to vote on the resolution on
Friday, 23 May. The Antibiotic Resistance Coalition will deliver an
intervention to the World Health Assembly prior to the vote.
The Antibiotic Resistance Coalition is also inviting other civil society
organisations around the world to sign its declaration, which is available
at www.reactgroup.org/arcdeclaration.
Antimicrobial resistance is a general term that refers to resistance to a
compound that kills or stops the growth of microorganisms, including
bacteria, fungus, parasites and viruses. Antibiotic resistance refers
specifically to resistance to anti-bacterial agents.
- END -
The Antibiotic Resistance Coalition consists of numerous civil society
organisations and stakeholders from six continents working in the health,
agriculture, consumer and development sectors. It advocates for policy
change and action to prevent the post-antibiotic era from becoming a bleak
reality. Established earlier this year, the Coalition resulted from a series
of discussions and meetings organised by the following steering group
members: Anthony So (ReAct / Program on Global Health and Technology
Access), Niclas Hไllstr๖m (What Next Forum), Martin Khor (South Centre), Tim
Reed (Health Action International), Peter Maybarduk (Public Citizen), Eva
Ombaka (ReAct / Health Action International) and David Wallinga (Healthy
Food Action). Initial funding for the formation of the Coalition was
provided by ReAct and the South Centre.
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
• Antibiotic Resistance Coalition’s (www.reactgroup.org/arcdeclaration)
• World Health Assembly Resolution EB134.R13: Combating Antimicrobial
Resistance, Including Antibiotic Resistance
(http://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/EB134/B134_R13-en.pdf)
• WHO fact sheet (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs194/en/) and
surveillance report
(http://www.who.int/drugresistance/documents/surveillancereport/en/) on
antimicrobial resistance
MEDIA ENQUIRIES MAY BE DIRECTED TO:
Europe:
Tim Reed (on the ground in Geneva at the World Health Assembly 67)
Health Action International
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
T: +31-6-412-287-41
E: tim@haiglobal.org
Otto Cars
ReAct
Uppsala, Sweden
T: +46-70-892-0203
E: otto.cars@medsci.uu.se
Asia:
Yoke Ling-Chee
Third World Network
Beijing, China
T: +86-139-100-71-567
E: yokeling@twnetwork.org
Chandra Bhushan
Centre for Science and Environment
New Delhi, India
T: +91-965-028-2840
E: chandra@cseindia.org / k_amit@cseindia.org
Africa:
Eva Ombaka
ReAct / Health Action International
Tanzania
T: +255-767-535-202
E: e.ombaka@gmail.com
North America:
David Wallinga
HealthyFoodAction.org
Minneapolis, United States of America
T: +1-612-423-9666
E: dwallinga@gmail.com