This is only the fourth time a health issue has been taken up by the UN General Assembly (the others were HIV, non-communicable diseases, and Ebola).
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The pledge during the annual UN General Assembly in NY on Wednesday followed years of warnings by global health officials about the rise of drug-resistant infections, which threaten to wipe out all effective antibiotics and antifungal medicines, leaving the world vulnerable to simple infections that once could be easily cured.
Doctors have always been giving out warnings about the dangers of antibiotic resistance, which occurs when viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi adapt to drugs that were previously used to combat them. Several global representatives spoke out about a looming threat of infections that can no longer be treated by available drugs.
Health experts say this could pose a challenge for India where, despite many warnings by microbiologists in recent years, the government is yet to crackdown on the sale of antibiotics without prescriptions. “We are running out of time”, Chan said.
“Common and life-threatening infections like pneumonia, gonorrhoea, and post-operative infections, as well as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria are increasingly becoming untreatable because of AMR”, the release stated. As the largest, most inclusive global-governance forum we have, the United Nations is the only institution that can marshal the resources and leadership commitments the problem demands.
Rampant overuse and misuse of antibiotics are reported worldwide. These people – perhaps all of us – have apparently misunderstood the essential advantage of consuming antibiotics, which is that they will only work for bacterial infections and not for other medical problems, including virus attacks.
But trade body Ruma, which represents drug distributors, farming groups and meat processors, said the use of antibiotics in farms plays only a small part in the problem and doctors giving unnecessary antibiotics to patients is a bigger issue. Healthy animals use resources more efficiently, lessening our environmental footprint.
“If we fail to address this problem quickly and comprehensively, antimicrobial resistance will make providing high quality universal health coverage more hard, if not impossible”, said the Secretary-General, also noting that it would put the Sustainable Development Goals in jeopardy – a message emphasized by Mr. Peter Thomson, President of the 71st session of the UN General Assembly and convener of the high level meeting.
Dr. Gordon said misuse of antibiotics isn’t good for anyone.
While antibiotic resistance is typically described as a problem of medicine, factory farms play as much of a role as hospitals do. That, she said, must change with the creation of better incentives.
New antibiotics are needed to take the place of those that have been made redundant, but experts warn that this can take decades, so amending current practices is an immediate priority. “Now, governments have the responsibility to turn these words into action”. Do you leave your course mid-way once your start getting better? The UK study estimates that 90 percent of deaths resulting from AMR will be in developing countries, and that one quarter of all deaths will be related to TB. That number is expected to balloon to 10 million by 2050.
“We need a system of access to medicine where, when new antibiotics are developed, they must be sold at the cheapest price so everyone can afford them”, commented Martin Khor, executive director of the South Centre, an intergovernmental organisation that supports cooperation between developing countries.
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If nothing is done, the last drugs standing will be knocked out of the game, and modern medicine will not be so modern.
