(DIR) Home
New 5-year plan to combat antimicrobial resistance
(HTM) Source
----------------------------------------------------------------------
* New national action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) launche
* Plan supports the government's 20-year vision to contain and contr
* Plan builds on the progress made in the previous 5-year national a
A new plan to tackle antimicrobial resistance, a global issue that
makes infections difficult or impossible to treat, has been launched
today (8 May 2024).
The national action plan will commit the UK to reducing its use of
antimicrobials - such as antibiotics, antifungals and antivirals - in
humans and animals, strengthen surveillance of drug-resistant
infections before they emerge and incentivise industry to develop the
next generation of treatments.
It commits to continue to innovate through initiatives such as
indicating that that the world-first 'subscription model' for
antimicrobials, which was launched in 2019 as a pilot, could be
expanded. This will see more companies paid a fixed annual fee for
antimicrobials based primarily on their value to the NHS, as opposed
to the volumes used.
The plan will build on progress towards the UK's 20-year vision for
antimicrobial resistance, which will see AMR contained, controlled and
mitigated - protecting public health by increasing the risk of disease
spread, severe illness, disability and death.
Health Minister Maria Caulfield said:
> Almost 8,000 people in the UK die from drug-resistant infections
> every year. If this continues to spread, common infections and
> injuries that were once easily treatable become harder, and in some
> cases impossible, to treat.
>
> Our 5-year action plan outlines our commitment to leading the way in
> tackling AMR, including through expanding our world-first
> subscription model to accelerate research into new treatments.
>
> In a world recovering from the profound impact of the COVID-19
> pandemic, international collaboration and preparedness for global
> health challenges have taken on an unprecedented level of
> importance.
This is the second of a series of 5-year national action plans that
will ensure sustained progress by tackling the global threat of AMR.
Learning from the achievements and challenges faced in delivering the
previous plan, which was launched in 2019, this new national action
plan will run from 2024 to 2029. It embeds lessons from the COVID-19
pandemic and will include specific commitments focusing on infection
prevention and control, and the development and use of diagnostics and
vaccines.
Action has already been taken across sectors, including the medical
and farming industries, to decrease the number of infections and
prevent AMR from spreading.
The new plan has 9 strategic outcomes organised under 4 themes:
1. Reducing the need for, and unintentional exposure to, antimicrobi
2. Optimising the use of antimicrobials - through ensuring antimicro
3. Investing in innovation, supply and access - by supporting and in
4. Being a good global partner - maintaining the UK's role as an int
AMR occurs when bacteria, and other microorganisms, develop resistance
to antimicrobial drugs, such as antibiotics, making them less
responsive or unresponsive to treatment. Avoiding unnecessary
antibiotic usage in humans and animals is crucial to slowing the
development and spread of antibiotic resistance.
In 2022, the government invested £210 million to partner with
countries across Asia and Africa to tackle AMR and reduce the threat
posed to the UK, through the Fleming Fund.
It is estimated that in 2019, 1.27 million deaths globally were caused
by infections resistant to antibiotics. The UK is committed to playing
a central role in the global effort to confront AMR by taking a
comprehensive approach that leverages the country's expertise and
domestic experience.
The scale of the AMR threat, and the need to contain and control it,
is widely acknowledged by governments, international agencies
including the World Health Organization and World Bank, researchers
and private companies alike.
Chief Medical Officer Professor, Chris Whitty, said:
> Antibiotics are one of the most powerful tools we have against
> infection. Resistance to these drugs therefore poses a significant
> threat to the lives of many people in the UK and around the world.
>
> AMR is not just a matter for clinicians - it is important to work
> across sectors to help preserve these vital medicines to minimise
> the impact of AMR.
UK Special Envoy on AMR, Dame Sally Davies, said:
> It is incomprehensible for any of us to imagine a world without
> effective antibiotics.
>
> But we are facing an antibiotic emergency already. And this menace
> is deeply unfair - with the burden disproportionately falling on the
> world's most vulnerable, in low and middle income countries and also
> children.
>
> We have to work together, across the world, with those countries
> that need action the most, to make progress and contain AMR.
Professor Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser at the UK Health
Security Agency (UKHSA), said:
> Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to all of us - simple
> lifesaving interventions in the form of antimicrobials are in danger
> of becoming ineffective.
>
> Through our priority AMR programme, including One Health
> surveillance, collaborative working with the health service,
> international collaborations and novel approaches to therapies and
> diagnostics, UKHSA has risen to meet this active threat - but it
> will take collective action across government, industry, academia
> and the public to ensure that antimicrobials remain available for
> ourselves and our communities, now and in the future.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Oliver Dowden, said:
> AMR is the invisible threat we must tackle to protect the welfare of
> our society and safeguard the NHS.
>
> I am pleased to see the publication of this second national action
> plan, which fulfils our commitments in the Biological Security
> Strategy to progress towards the vision of a world where AMR is
> effectively contained, controlled and mitigated by 2040.
UK Chief Veterinary Officer, Christine Middlemiss, said:
> The UK has made fantastic progress in the past 10 years to reduce
> AMR in animals, working between government, farming industry, vets
> and animal keepers to reduce the use of antibiotics in food-
> producing animals by more than half.
>
> The new national action plan will build upon these achievements, and
> I urge vets and animal keepers to continue to support the UK's
> 20-year vision to contain and control AMR.
Richard Torbett, Chief Executive, Association of the British
Pharmaceutical Industry, said:
> AMR is a pressing health challenge which requires urgent global
> action. The UK has been proactive in finding practical solutions to
> this problem, and this new national action plan sets a precedent
> that countries worldwide should follow.
>
> Expanding the pilot of the innovative antibiotic subscription model
> is a crucial next step with our industry's full support. This type
> of innovative thinking is needed to address the issues associated
> with AMR and safeguard public health from this shared threat.
James Anderson, Executive Director, Global Health at the International
Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA)
and Chair of the AMR Industry Alliance, said:
> Tackling the rising threat of AMR will depend on having a continuous
> pipeline that delivers new, innovative antibiotics.
>
> To do this, society needs to take bold action to redefine the value
> we place on them and attract more R&D investment.
>
> The successful results of the UK's pilot programme provide an
> important reference point ahead of this year's UN high-level meeting
> on AMR. As a truly global challenge, we need to see countries
> working together to make a step change in how the world is
> addressing AMR.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS National Medical Director, said:
> Effective antibiotics are fundamental to providing the best care and
> treatment for patients both in the NHS and globally, so it is only
> right that we move to tackle the major issue of antibiotic
> resistance.
>
> We welcome this new strategy by the Department of Health and Social
> Care, as the NHS continues to lead the world by developing a new
> subscription-style payment model to create greater incentives for
> new antibiotics to help tackle this issue, with both national and
> global partners.
## Background information
See the UK 5-year action plan for antimicrobial resistance 2024 to
2029.
The UK will continue to innovative and influence with expansion to the
subscription-style model, piloted in 2019, to more antimicrobials
across the UK.
The Fleming Fund is a UK aid programme supporting up to 25 countries
across Africa and Asia to tackle AMR.
There has already been progress made towards reducing antibiotic use
in animals - sales of antibiotics for use in food-producing animals
fell by nearly 10% in the last year and have more than halved since
2014.
*[AMR]: antimicrobial resistance
*[UKHSA]: UK Health Security Agency
*[R&D]: research and development
______________________________________________________________________
Served by Flask-Gopher/2.2.1