Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a global health threat of unprecented scale and urgency. During the first World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) from 16-22 November 2015, which encompassed the 8th European Antibiotic Awareness Day (EAAD), emphasis was placed on the global nature of the emergency that requires all institutions and actors to join forces. At the launch event in Brussels, the European Commission, ECDC and WHO sent a clear signal that only effective collaboration can tackle the complex challenge posed by AMR.
The EAAD provided the platform for the ECDC to present the latest AMR data to the media. Whilst some countries have taken action and are seeing some signs of improvement, a major concern is growing resistance to last-line antibiotics. In particular, ECDC noted the further spread of CPE (bacteria resistant to carbapenems, a last-line group of antibiotics) as indicative of the severity of the threat to public health as there are few alternative treatment options. Antibiotic consumption in the hospital sector, overall and for carbapenems, continues to increase.
Best practice in some countries resulting in signficiant progress was presented, for example significant decreases in antibiotic consumption in the community was recorded in five European countries (DK, LUX, SLO, ES, SWE), and national capacities for the containment of CPE are increasing.
There was strong commitment from the political level during WAAW, with both the European Commissioner for Health, Dr Vytenis Andriukaitis, and WHO Europe Regional Director Dr Zsuzsanna Jakab emphasising that further measures are needed to ensure responsible and prudent use of antibiotics in Europe and globally. This will need to translate from both the EU Action plan and WHO Global Action Plan into concrete policy measures in the near future.
EPHA’s Sascha Marschang joined others from the public health community in a global twitter chat hosted by WHO and by pledging our support for tackling the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. EPHA’s campaign on AMR aims to ensure appropriate and urgent policy action at European and international level.
Click here to watch EPHA’s 2015 EAAD video pledge
In particular, EPHA highlights the environmental aspect of the ‘one health’ approach as a major driver of antimicrobial resistance in the global pharmaceutical supply chain which has to date been ignored at EU level.
As a next step, on 10 December 2015 EPHA will organise an event in the European Parliament with MEPs Martin Haeusling and Jasenko Selimovic and Health Care Without Harm Europe entitled ‘Pharma pollution: An ignored cause of AMR‘. The event will discuss the need for legislation to oblige pharmaceutical companies to clean up their supply chains globally, to ensure active ingredients are not released as waste into the environment. It will also raise a very timely topic on how to tackle dangerous overuse of antibiotics in livestock farming.
For more information, please see the report: Bad Medicine: How the pharmaceutical industry is contributing to the global rise of antibiotic resistance superbugs, SumOfUs, June 2015.
