The European Commission is preparing to unveil its new action plan against antimicrobial resistance. According to our information, it will be a communication with no legislative proposals. Even more astonishing is that it will contain no targets or key indicators, contrary to what the Council called for in its conclusions of June 2016 (see EUROPE 11574).
Antimicrobial resistance is the ability of micro-organisms to resist antimicrobial treatments to which were initially effective. This is a natural phenomenon but an accumulation of factors, including excessive and inappropriate use of antimicrobial medicines on humans and animals have transformed AMR into a serious threat to public health. In 2011, an action plan was produced, comprising seven priority areas for action, such as developing alternative, information, research and development et al, and twelve concrete actions, which included strengthening infection prevention in hospitals and clinics and awareness-raising. The new strategy to be presented on 29 June will be built around “One health”, that is to say, coordinated action in health, the environment, agriculture and livestock rearing. It is likely to set out a raft of initiatives to support action being taken by the member states, notably to check the prevalence of the phenomenon.
A provisional version dating from a few weeks ago, however, does not propose any funding to that effect or even specific objective/indicators. A source close to the matter says that the lack of indicators comes as a result of a decision by the Commission Secretariat General. “The timetable in the first versions was removed in order to better respond to the ‘better regulation’ approach”, the source said. A further significant observation is that the draft communication does not contain any reference to the environmental factors contributing to antimicrobial resistance, the importance of which was recognised in the 2016 assessment.
The final version of the action plan will be published in the course of 29 June. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)