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A global call for action on drug-resistant infections

A global conference in October will accelerate action on tackling drug-resistant infections, one of the greatest health and economic challenges of our time.

Image of sand falling through an hourglass
Without global action now, the number of deaths related to drug-resistant infections is predicted to rise to 10 million a year by 2050.
Credit: Science Photo Library
3-minute read
3-minute read

The conference, in Berlin on 12 and 13 October 2017, is organised by Wellcome in partnership with the UK, Ghanaian and Thai governments and the UN Foundation. It will support the work of the Antimicrobial Resistance Inter-Agency Coordination Group (IACG).

The event is an opportunity for national governments and multilateral institutions to come together with the civil society, private and philanthropic sectors to focus on the most critical gaps in tackling the development and spread of drug-resistant infections, and to commit to concerted and tangible actions.

What's at stake

Already, at least 700,000 people a year die from drug-resistant infections. If we don’t act now, this number is predicted to rise to 10 million a year by 2050. This will cost the global economy up to $100 trillion and push a further 28.3 million people into extreme poverty.

The IACG is an ad hoc group established to help sustain and coordinate effective global action against drug-resistant infections. It was set up by the United Nations (UN) following last year’s landmark UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) and Political Declaration.

Since that declaration, the global community has begun a wide range of initiatives to respond to the deadly threat.

But there is still a pressing need to improve how these are aligned, build the means needed to sustain a global response, and make sure our response reflects the huge scale of this issue. Our event will draw this work together. 

It is a call to action to come together and commit to tangible action, including: 

  • ensuring a coherent, One Health, approach to drug-resistant infections across the environment, food, agriculture, and health sectors 
  • strengthening cross-sector partnership work
  • providing a focal point for initiatives, action and funding to ensure maximum impact
  • ensuring we identify all ongoing work at a national and international level to inform the IACG.

Submit a statement

We are calling for partners and stakeholders to submit a short statement on the actions they have taken in the last year to combat antimicrobial resistance.

The actions will be showcased during the conference and given to the IACG to inform their work.

You can submit actions via email. For more information, read our guidelines for submission [PDF 51KB].

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