On Monday 24 October, the European Commission presented a fairly positive balance sheet for its action plan for fighting antimicrobial resistance. It is expected to draw on this 150-page document to present a new strategy in this domain next year.
The action plan covers the 2011-16 period. It seeks to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – in other words, the ability of micro-organisms to resist antimicrobial treatment to which they were previously receptive. The action plan is based around seven priority action areas (including developing an alternative, information, and research and development) and 12 areas for taking concrete action (including the prevention of nosocomial infections, and raising awareness).
The action plan balance sheet is partly based on a contracting party’s study, which concluded that the action launched in the action plan was “appropriate” and still is. The balance sheet also indicated that it was too early to determine the action plan's efficiency as it will not be concluded until the end of the year, but that the action plan had produced concrete results in member states, despite significant disparities in the different countries. A total of 21 European Union and/or economic and monetary union area countries now have an action plan on the cautious use of antimicrobials for human beings, as opposed to 15 in 2008. Similarly, 29 countries have national guidelines for preventing and controlling infections. The document demonstrates, however, that consumption is continuing to increase in Spain, Hungary, Croatia and Italy.
The Commission concludes that the evaluation demonstrates that there is an obvious need to support and assist member states in the development and implementation of national action plans. According to the Commission, without new action, resistance to antimicrobials could lead to 10 million deaths in the world every year, and this is a convincing argument to continue AMR efforts, whilst respecting the respective competences of the EU and its member states. The evaluation can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/health_food-safety/amr/docs/amr_evaluation_2011-16_evaluation-action-plan.pdf . (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)