E-DRUG: Editorial about Antimicrobial resistance
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Hi E-Druggers,
Mirfin Mpundu the Executive Director of the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network has just shared an interesting editorial he and a number of authors have written for the International Journal of Infectious Diseases. The citation is Mendelson, M., Dar, O. A., Hoffman, S. J., Laxminarayan, R., Mpundu, M. M., & Røttingen, J. A. (2016). A Global Antimicrobial Conservation Fund for Low-and Middle-Income Countries. International Journal of Infectious Diseases, 51, 70-72.
The URL is
http://www.ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(16)31173-0/fulltext
This editorial was obviously written and published to coincide with the UN General Assembly discussion of AMR last week.
I was taken by paragraphs that suggested something new to me.
They are
"The final O'Neill Report on Antimicrobial Resistance highlights 10 interventions that are needed to address the global antimicrobial resistance crisis.
Its recommendation of a global innovation fund to drive R&D for new antimicrobials, vaccines and diagnostics has been a focus of attention in the run up to UNGA, and is an important initiative. However, for many LMICs, it is clear that government budgets will only go so far in supporting each stage of the process towards antimicrobial conservation, and serious consideration must be given to how low income, and lower-middle income countries are going to translate their national action plans into practice without international financial and technical assistance.
Furthermore, how will countries that receive such aid be held accountable for delivering on commitments made? How will countries conserve new antimicrobials with the current challenges they face that have contributed to the AMR crisis?
We recommend the formation of a Global Antimicrobial Conservation Fund to complement the tranche of innovation funds that have recently been announced. Rather than this being a permanent flow of funds, which is unsustainable, a conservation fund would provide transitional financial and technical support to build capacities and programs within the poorest countries, which would then be taken over domestically as possible. Such a fund would not diminish the responsibility of national governments in the development of their national AMR plans nor for delivering meaningful outputs. Rather, it would confer support for accelerated action, to conserve a rapidly dwindling resource and could be linked to a formal resource conservation agreement.
For those wealthier countries already spending considerably on AMR, financially contributing to such a global conservation fund protects their domestic investments and is one of the most cost-effective ways of mitigating risk posed by the transnational migration of resistant microbes."
There has been lots of talk about innovation funding but much less discussion of conservation funding. I hope we will hear more about this idea.
I do encourage E-Druggers to read the editorial. It is free to download, is short and to the point. Credit to the authors for making their case so well,
Richard
Richard Laing
Professor, Department of Global Health
Boston University School of Public Health,
801 Massachusetts Avenue Boston MA 02118
Tel 617 414 1445 (Office) 617 435 7860 (Mobile)
E mail richardl@bu.edu