Without a long-term and multisectoral response to AMR, the prevalence and impact of drug-resistant pathogens — on human, animal and plant health; environmental ecosystems; food production; livelihoods; and economies — will inevitably grow.
The Global Leaders Group (GLG) on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was established in 2020 to advocate for and help mobilise greater political commitment to the silent pandemic that has been affecting global health for decades.
Leadership for global benefit
The GLG consists of heads of state, government officials and representatives from foundations, civil society organisations and the private sector. Its mission is to strengthen political momentum and leadership on AMR through the integrated and unifying One Health approach to achieve optimal and sustainable health outcomes for people, animals and ecosystems.
To date, they have helped to ensure AMR is on the agenda at G7 and G20 summits and leverages global fora to engage political leaders and key stakeholders on AMR and is advocating for the inclusion of AMR in the international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
We must limit the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals and plants.
Solutions towards AMR
The technical solutions to preventing and mitigating the impact of AMR are well-understood. We must limit the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals and plants. We must prevent the spread of infectious diseases in healthcare settings, farms and food production through sound hygiene and sanitation, biosecurity, animal welfare and waste management measures.
We need effective surveillance systems to monitor disease threats, as well as research to ensure that we have a new generation of antimicrobials, vaccines, diagnostics and effective alternatives to antimicrobials.
Large-scale impact
We need the world to come together to properly finance these efforts, particularly in low to middle-income countries that face the greatest effects of AMR but are least equipped to tackle them. We must collectively fund national plans to enable more effective and sustainable responses to AMR.
Because environmental conditions have such an impact on human, animal and plant health and the spread of disease, it is increasingly clear that the two greatest challenges of our time — the climate crisis and the risks of new pandemics of resistant microbes — are linked, and they must be tackled by us working together. That work includes demanding that our political leaders tackle AMR with the urgency and at the scale needed before common infections in humans and animals become impossible to treat — and before farming and food production buckle under the weight of resistant disease.
