Policy makers and the general public are still not aware of the problem of antimicrobial resistance, said representatives of the European Commission, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Medicines Agency and the WHO on Thursday 18 November at the European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE).
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) - the resistance of bacteria and viruses to the effects of medicines - is considered by the WHO to be one of the ten greatest threats to public health today. WHO had already estimated in 2019 that at least 700,000 people will die annually from drug-resistant diseases.
On Thursday, the Commission’s Director General for Health and Food Safety, Sandra Gallina, called the phenomenon a “silent tsunami”.
All speakers also warned of the disastrous consequences of not responding immediately.
“It is our responsibility to make sure antibiotics still work for future generations”, insisted ECDC director Andrea Ammon, advocating the prudent use of antibiotics, the application of strict prevention and control measures in hospitals and the development of new antibiotics.
On the Commission side, dedicated projects are currently being set up through HERA (see EUROPE 12798/5). (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)