At last week's United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), a political declaration was approved by global leaders committing to reducing the estimated 4.95 million human deaths associated with bacterial AMR annually by 10% by 2030. Other actions and targets in the declaration include:
- Achieving a target of at least 60% of countries having funded national action plans (NAP) on AMR by 2030, with "sustainable national funding" and US$100 million in "catalytic" funding to support development of NAPs.
- Infection prevention and control (IPC) targets, such as 100% of countries having basic water, sanitation, hygiene and waste management services in all health care facilities by 2030.
- A human health target that at least 70% of antibiotics used for human health globally should belong to the WHO Access group antibiotics with relatively minimal side effects and lower potential to cause AMR.
- Agriculture and animal health commitments to meaningfully reduce the quantity of antimicrobials used globally in agri-food systems by 2030; this would be achieved in part through preventive strategies, including animal vaccination strategies, good husbandry practices, biosecurity, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) approaches.
- Actions for the environment include the need to prevent and address the discharge of antimicrobials into the environment, as well as increased research and knowledge on the environmental dimensions of AMR.
The declaration also calls on countries to report quality surveillance data on antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use by 2030 through existing systems (i.e., the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS), among others), as well as calling for 95% of countries to report annually on the implementation of their AMR national action plans through the Tracking AMR Country Self-assessment Survey (TrACSS).
For more details, a joint news release issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)--known as the Quadrapartite--can be viewed here.
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Kris Johansen
Associate Director of External Relations
National Institute of Antimicrobial Resistance Research & Education
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