September 02, 2016
The most consequential event in the history of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a global health issue is taking place in a few weeks. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) is holding a High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance—only the third health issue to be afforded such treatment. The entire day’s proceedings on September 21st will be about AMR, and the audience will include Presidents, Prime Ministers and their closest health advisors—and hopefully, a small contingent from CDDEP. The assembled will witness the unveiling of a U.N. Resolution on AMR.
Whether or not we are present at the historic session on the 21st, CDDEP and several co-sponsors will have its own high-level event the preceding day. On September 20th, Ministers of Health, heads of national and global health agencies and corporations from around the world, and other leaders in efforts to control AMR and ensure antimicrobial access will explore the post-UNGA future. The full speaker list will be made public before the event, but the three panels—on Stewardship and Conservation, Innovation, and Global Accountability and Governance will be chaired, respectively, by Professor Martin Blaser of New York University, Chair of the U.S. Presidential Advisory Council on Curbing Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria; John-Arne Røttingen from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health; and Dame Sally Davies, England’s Chief Medical Officer.
As powerful as the United Nations is, its resolutions are not self-deploying or self-enforcing. This one will not come with an AMR Army to fan out across the globe, carrying out programs or making sure that governments keep their promises. Ensuring that the work is started and continues falls to those who have been toiling to bring the issue to its current pinnacle, CDDEP not least among them.
We expect ideas to bubble up during our event; CDDEP and colleagues have already offered some ideas for goal setting and oversight in this Science paper from a few weeks ago.
We will update the plans for the pre-UNGA event and any news about the U.N. resolution next week in this space. If you (or others who you know will be in New York for the U.N. events) would like to be considered for an invitation to CDDEP and our co-sponsors’ event, please send an email to [email protected].
