Duke Joins Coalition Pushing for Global Action on Antibiotic Resistance Crisis

coalition members

Published May 29, 2014, last updated on April 9, 2018

The Antibiotic Resistance Coalition, comprising civil society organisations and stakeholders from multiple sectors on six continents including the Duke Program on Global Health and Technology Access (GHTA), has called on World Health Organization Member States to pass a critical resolution at the 67th World Health Assembly that would spark concerted global action to control the escalating antimicrobial resistance crisis.

Through GHTA and ReAct - Global Antibiotic Resistance, DGHI faculty member Anthony So helped co-organize a series of meetings in Berlin and Geneva that led to the creation of the global coalition.

“Antimicrobial resistance—and particularly antibiotic resistance—is the most pressing public health issue facing the global community,” said Otto Cars, founder of ReAct (Action on Antibiotic Resistance). “If the resolution is not passed, and the WHO and its Member States do not act quickly, there will be disastrous global health consequences.”

Public health researchers estimate that, each year, millions of people around the world are infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and hundreds of thousands of them die. Without immediate action, that toll is expected to worsen.

“We are on the precipice of a post-antibiotic era,” said Tim Reed, executive director of Health Action International. “Without a radical shift in the way antibiotics are marketed and used—and unless we overcome the gap in antibiotics discovery—antibiotic resistance will continue to become one of the greatest threats to humankind.”

 In its declarationthe Antibiotic Resistance Coalition asserts that consumer protection and public health must trump the pursuit of profit, and that effective antibiotics are global public goods. The Coalition also calls for international leadership and action to, in part:

  • Prohibit the promotion and advertising of antibiotics;
  • Promote new, needs-driven and open research and development models based on the principle of de-linkage (divorcing price from research and development costs and sales volumes);
  • Phase out the use of antimicrobials for routine disease prevention in livestock, and end their use, altogether, for growth promotion;
  • Build robust systems, in all countries, to monitor and report antibiotic use and resistance trends in humans and animals; and
  • Improve public awareness to support an ecological understanding of human-bacteria interaction and behaviour change around antibiotic use

"Member States must deliver a strong mandate to the WHO to not only develop a pressing action plan on antimicrobial resistance, but also to ensure that public health is prioritised over commercial interests,” said Yoke Ling-Chee, program director with Third World Network. “Access to affordable and effective antibiotics is of particular importance for developing countries."

WHO Member States are tentatively scheduled to vote on the resolution on Friday, 23 May. The Antibiotic Resistance Coalition will deliver an intervention to the World Health Assembly prior to the vote.

The Antibiotic Resistance Coalition is also inviting other civil society organisations around the world to sign its declaration, which is available at www.reactgroup.org/arcdeclaration.