Dr Ramanan calls AMR an 'optional' crisis - a problem that can be solved. Intersectional coordination with top-4 global agencies on human health, animal health, food and agriculture and the environment (WHO, World Organisation for Animal Health - WOAH, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - FAO, and United Nations Environment Programme - UNEP) for tackling AMR has also set the stage for One Health which is a simple and ancient recognition that our health is inextricably intertwined with the health of animals, plants and the planet.
"There is an urgent need to have more accountable, effective and functional multi sectoral governance systems in place to coordinate the local, regional and global responses to AMR and to also successfully implement targeted interventions," remarked Dr Abdullah Algwizani, CEO Public Health Authority, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Professor Dame Sally Davies, Special Envoy on AMR for UK, hopes that "the high level meeting on AMR would truly address the needs of the most vulnerable communities, offering clear support to low and middle-income countries who carry the greatest burden of this antibiotic emergency. Fair and equitable access to antibiotics and diagnostics should be a high priority. Better access to essential antibiotics, embedded in a better system of WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), IPC (infection and prevention control), vaccines, with responsible stewardship, and combined with an improved pipeline of new antibiotics diagnostics will save millions of lives".
Call to move from Declaration to Implementation
And as Dr Peter Piot, Professor of Global Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (and its former Director as well as of UNAIDS), who chaired the roundtable, emphasises, "we will have to move from declaration to implementation that is grounded in science."
"We have plenty of tools but they will only materialise if there is leadership and if there is funding. There is also need for innovative mechanisms to guide basic research and lead it to actual products that are accessible to people," he said.
Indeed, political will, specific measurable targets, adequate funding, good governance and accountability are key to tackling this human made crisis.
Time is slipping by. Governments will have to move beyond rhetoric, and take urgent and concrete steps on the ground to safeguard the lives and health of people, animals, economies and our environment.
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