The Graduate Institute, Maison de la Paix | Geneva
This event was organized by the Global Health Programme at the Graduate Institute, Geneva, in cooperation with the Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House, London.
What actions must nation states, and the international community, take to address the health risks posed by the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)? As we look beyond 2015 we need to see AMR as a key challenge to sustainable development and an important consideration in the pursuit of Universal Health Coverage. Many international actors including the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health have drawn attention to the threat posed by AMR. It is a challenge that takes us far beyond the health sector.
The achievements of modern medicine are put at risk by AMR. It increases the cost of health care and the economic burden on families and societies. It threatens health security, and can damage trade and economies. It threatens a return to the pre-antibiotic era where many infectious diseases were untreatable and uncontrollable. AMR could erode the health gains made over recent decades and could reverse the progress made towards reaching the targets of the health-related United Nations Millennium Development Goals set for 2015.
What do countries need to do? And what needs to be done at the global level and by whom? The event will pay particular attention to identifying the challenges low and middle income countries face in addressing AMR while facilitating access to essential life-saving medicines.
Keynote speakers at the event are Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer & Chief Scientific Adviser, Department of Health, UK and Dr Abdul Ghafur, Coordinator, «Chennai Declaration» and Apollo Honorary Associate Professor, Apollo Specialty Hospital, Chennai, India. Other invited speakers are: Maria Helena Semedo, Deputy Director-General for Knowledge, Food and Agriculture Organization; Marc Sprenger, Director, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control; Martha Gyansa-Ludderodt, Director of Pharmaceutical Services and Chief Pharmacist, Ministry of Health, Ghana; Visanu Thamlikitkul, Professor of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok; Otto Cars, Chairman and Executive Director, ReAct, Sweden; and Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director, MSF Access Campaign. The meeting is co-chaired by Prof Ilona Kickbusch, Global Health Programme, The Graduate Institute and Dr David L. Heymann, Centre on Global Health Security, Chatham House.
Marc Sprenger, The threat of antimicrobial – An urgent global concern
Dr Abdul Ghafur, Antimicrobial Resistance The National and Regional Context
Presentation by Martha Gyansa-Lutterodt
Visanu Thamlikitkul, National Context: AMR Containment & Prevention in Thailand
Antibiotic Resistance: The need for global solutions, The Lancet, Vol 13 December 2013
Combating antimirocial resistance including antibiotic resistance, Executive Board, January 2014