Global access to effective antibiotics under threat

Commentary paper published today in the Lancet states that global access to effective antibiotics is under threat

Writing in the Lancet today in a commentary piece entitled UN High-Level Meeting on antimicrobials—what do we need?, some of the world’s leading experts on antibiotic resistance, including co-author Professor Alison Holmes, Director at the NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in HCAI and AMR are calling on the United Nations General Assembly to take decisive action to reduce the increasing number of deaths caused due to the limited access to effective antibiotics.

The letter recommends that the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting in September this year should establish a UN High-Level Coordinating Mechanism on Antimicrobial Resistance (HLCM) with four core functions, which are similar to those of UNAIDS when it was first established in 1996 to address the AIDS crisis. This panel would consist of the involvement of UNICEF, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, the World Bank, and other multilateral agencies as part of a globally coordinated plan.

Functions of a UN High-Level Coordinating Mechanism on Antimicrobial Resistance

• Advocacy: raise awareness about lack of access to antibiotics and drug resistance
• Monitoring and evaluation: establish, monitor, and report on global and national enforceable targets
• Resource mobilisation: finance implementation of global and national level action plans and a global coordination and monitoring platform
• Coordination of multisectoral action: support member states to pursue national level, multisectoral action for implementation of WHO's Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance alongside national efforts to improve access to effective antimicrobials

According to the commentary paper in the Lancet, antibiotic resistance is responsible for over 700?000 deaths worldwide, including 214,?000 neonatal sepsis deaths. Currently, insufficient access and delays in access to antibiotics cause more deaths than antibiotic resistance, but more resistance-related deaths are being reported in all countries irrespective of income level. The key is to promote universal provision of antimicrobials while ensuring continued effectiveness. 

The UN meeting in September would provide an ideal platform to change how the global community responds to this ever increasing health crisis.