Global leaders join forces against antimicrobial resistance

Prominent global leaders in science, industry and government joined a United Nations effort to fight antimicrobial resistance, described as a slow-moving pandemic by the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu.

The One Health Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) was launched in November 2020 by FAO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO), who will now also be joined by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). The Group has had its first meeting and aims to catalyze global attention and efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance across all sectors and ensure the availability of important medicines for the future.

Some of the objectives and actions envisaged for the Group - to be refined on the second day of the meeting and in further exchanges - include:

• To maintain urgency, public support, political momentum and visibility of the AMR challenge on the global agenda;
• To advocate for action and scaled-up investment, including support for the expanding work of the Tripartite organizations (FAO/OIE/WHO), UN Environment and other international and regional entities;
• To monitor and report on progress, gaps and accountability in the global response to AMR;
• To advocate for multi-stakeholder engagement with the participation of Member States, UN agencies, international and intergovernmental organizations and regional entities, civil society, the private sector, researchers and others to develop and work towards a shared global vision, goals and coordinated action on AMR;
• To monitor and advocate for the inclusion of AMR and One Health "lens" in investments and programmes of major financing instruments for agriculture, health, development, food and feed production.