As the world grapples with the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), experts and advocates came together during Antimicrobial Awareness Week to shed light on the urgent need for global action. In a recent virtual meeting, prominent figures in the field discussed the challenges and outlined strategies to combat the rise of AMR.
Participants Included:
Dame Sally Davies GCB DBE FRS FMedSci – Former Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health and current UK envoy on antimicrobial resistance.
Rachel Freeman – Engagement Manager, AMR Resistance Solution Lead IQVIA
Tom Ashfield – Senior Medical Affairs Advisor – Infection, Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship, Pfizer Hospital Business Unit
David Jenkins – Consultant Medical Microbiologist and Infection Prevention Specialist and President of BSAC
Addressing the causes of AMR
The meeting opened with a powerful message from Dame Sally Davies, emphasising the severity of AMR and its potential to cause serious illness or even death. She urged the public to take preventive measures, such as proper handwashing, and highlighted the importance of responsible antibiotic use.
Further into the discussion, Dame Sally detailing her work as the UK’s special envoy, collaborating with international organisations like the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation. She also recounted her early realisation of the rising superbug crisis during her tenure as Chief Medical Officer in 2013 – highlighting the challenges in Britain, including increased illness, extended hospital stays, and deaths from drug-resistant infections. The scarcity of new antibiotics compounds the problem, demanding a global response.
Addressing the causes of AMR, Dame Sally emphasised the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in both human and animal sectors. She underscored the need for appropriate antibiotic use worldwide and highlighted the alarming issue of counterfeit or falsified antibiotics in some regions. Explaining how up to 5 million people died in association with AMR in 2019, with 1.3 million directly attributable deaths, Dame Sally stated that the figure predicted by Lord Jim O’Neill in 2015 of 10 million annual deaths by 2050 now appears conservative, prompting a call for renewed efforts to combat this silent pandemic.
“My first annual report in 2013 as chief medical Officer was about infection. And what I realized was that in Britain, superbugs were on the rise, more people were getting ill, and in general, it doubled the time that people spent in hospital.”
Dame Sally Davies
David Jenkins then provided a comprehensive overview of antimicrobials, emphasising that the term encompasses antibacterials, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitic agents. The focus, however, remained on antibacterials, or antibiotics, due to their central role in medical care. Discussing the threat of antimicrobial resistance, Jenkins explained that antibiotics, discovered in the 20th century, revolutionised medical care and increased life expectancy globally. However, the misuse and overuse of antibiotics have led to the development of resistant bacteria, rendering some infections untreatable.
“Antibiotics are arguably the most important development in medical care in the 20th century and led to significant increases in average life expectancy around the world. And virtually everybody in this country and many other countries have had antibiotics at least once in their life.”
David Jenkins
Understanding the Spread of Resistance
Tom Ashfield highlighted the importance of responsible antibiotic use in both human and animal healthcare. He stressed the global nature of AMR, emphasizing that it affects all sectors, from primary care in the UK to international contexts. He underscored the importance of antimicrobial stewardship, stating, “Each antimicrobial prescription must be underlined by appropriate decision making.”
Rachel Freeman noted the critical role of surveillance and highlighted the complexity of understanding resistance spread, saying, “The need to rethink how we understand the spread of resistance is very much now related to the fact that there are these resistance genes that can hop, skip and jump to different types of bacteria.”
Rachel further elaborated on the significance of surveillance in capturing data for effective action against AMR. She stressed the need for comprehensive data across different sectors—human, animal, environment, and plant—adopting a “one health” approach. She emphasised, “Essentially, look at it as what is the action I want to take what is the data that I need to inform the relevant actions.”
Along with David, Rachel also discussed the distinction between clinical and laboratory data in identifying antimicrobial resistance. Rachel highlighted the challenges of surveillance, stating, “Understanding the carriage of resistance is not something that is typically done because we tend to see people with infection, and that’s when we first identify a problem.”
Final thought
In concluding the discussion, the panel reiterated the importance of a global collaborative effort to address AMR. Davies commended the efforts of politicians, emphasising the ongoing need for education and advocacy. Jenkins thanked the participants for their valuable insights, stating, “It’s been my pleasure…to help run this and share it.”
As the world faces the escalating threat of superbugs, the call to action is clear: responsible antibiotic use, global collaboration, and sustained efforts are essential to mitigate the impact of antimicrobial resistance and safeguard the future of healthcare.
Watch the full video here:
