Samantha Serrano
Associate Director of Science Communications, One Health Trust
The recent United Nations declaration on AMR marks a significant step forward in addressing the crisis, but additional efforts and support are essential.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) was first addressed on the global stage at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) nearly a decade ago, in 2016.
Lack of funding in AMR
The first UN declaration on AMR acknowledged the problem and called for national action plans to mitigate the AMR crisis. The 2016 declaration catalysed surveillance, evidence-gathering and the development of 169 national action plans. However, only 10% of these plans are financed.
A 2024 Lancet Series on AMR shows that AMR is growing. Although antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections were attributed to 1.27 million deaths in 2019 — more than malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS combined — funding for innovation to address AMR is more than 15 times lower.
The declaration aims to facilitate sustainable
funding of USD 100 million by 2030
for national action plan implementation.
Advances of the 2024 declaration
On September 26, 2024, AMR was discussed a second time at a UNGA High-Level Meeting, and a political declaration spearheaded by Ambassadors Vanessa Frazier of Malta and François Jackman of Barbados was approved by all 193 UN Member States. The new declaration solidifies many advancements in AMR control. It calls for an independent panel for evidence for action in 2025.
The declaration aims to facilitate sustainable funding of USD 100 million by 2030 for national action plan implementation. It establishes targets to reduce deaths associated with bacterial AMR by 10% by 2030 and to expand the use of antibiotics with lower potential for resistance (deemed Access Antibiotics by the World Health Organization) to at least 70% of human antibiotic use by 2030.
What’s missing from this UN declaration?
Countering the notion of AMR as a ‘silent pandemic,’ Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan, President of the One Health Trust, referred to AMR during his speech at the high-level meeting as a ‘neglected pandemic.’ While the new declaration makes important advancements, moving the needle on AMR requires clear targets to control the misuse of antibiotics in human and animal health mitigation. It also requires firm commitments to greater funding for prevention measures, innovation and improved access to existing antibiotics in low-resource settings — all missing from the current declaration.
