Tackling AntiMicrobial Resistance, Together
"We as the UK and France have together been pioneers and champions in Antimicrobial Resistance [however] 39 million people will die from AMR over the next 25 years unless we take significant action." These were the stark opening words of Dame Sally Davies, the UK former Chief Medical Officer and current UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance at a joint event run by the Institut Pasteur and the British Embassy in Paris, in collaboration with Pasteur Foundation – UK, on Tuesday 19th November 2024.
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Dame Sally Davies' keynote speech opened a morning of panel discussions on the topic of how we can work better together to tackle the global challenge of AMR. Dame Sally went on to say how important events such as this were in maintaining momentum and cohesion in the fight against AMR, citing some of the progress that has been made against the rise of drug-resistant infections in recent years. She quoted that "between 1990 and 2021, AMR deaths among children under 5 years old declined by 50%" and emphasised how this positive result over the last 30 years shows the impact of hygiene, clean water and sanitation measures, infection prevention and control and global vaccination programmes.
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Over the course of the morning, a cross-sector cohort of leaders in the fields of policy, economics and the science of AMR took on the themes introduced by Dame Sally across two panels covering Diagnostics, Surveillance and Data and Global Governance.
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Professor Alison Holmes, Director of the Flemming Initiative and the National Institute for Health and Care Research chaired the first panel. This consisted of Jerome Weinbach, Deputy Director at the French Ministry of Solidarity & Health, Toby Leslie, Global Technical Lead at the Fleming Fund and Mott MacDonald, Francois Lacoste, VP Research and Development at BioMérieux, Lulla Opatowski, Professor of Mathematical Epidiemology at Institut Pasteur and Rob Finn, Microbiome Informatics Lead at EMBL-EBI.
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We witnessed an animated discussion around the importance of identifying AMR hotspots and the essential role of considering how different geographies and climates are affected by the AMR challenge. As the discussion developed, the panellists also analysed the necessity of understanding the large burden of AMR taken on by at-risk groups, especially at the extremes of life, including neo-nates, over 70s and post-partem mothers. Professor Alison Homes underlined the key to successful data, diagnostics and surveillance being "making sure no population is left behind."
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The panel then discussed recent improvements in diagnostics including training, resources and advances in tech but were keen to highlight the ongoing essential importance of basic research, with Rob Finn from EMBL stating "data and AI will help but we still need microbiology to understand mechanisms."
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As Professor Holmes drew the Diagnostics, Surveillance and Data panel to a conclusion, the panellists stressed the need for public engagement and local approaches, citing the relevance of organisations such as the Pasteur Network in the ability to be agile and embrace different publics dependent on how antimicrobial resistance is affecting them. There was also an eagerness to assert the necessity of public action in combating AMR with the Flemming Fund’s Toby Leslie eloquently summarising that “the best way to prevent antimicrobial resistance is to prevent infection”.
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Following a short break, we regrouped for a second panel on Global Governance, Chaired by Professor Sir Stewart Cole, Executive Director of the Ineos Oxford Institute and Chair of Pasteur Foundation - UK. The panellists were Penny Walker-Robertson, Deputy Director of Global Health Security for the UK Department of Health and Social Care, Louise Burdloff, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Development at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Emma Berntman, AMR lead and Senior Engagement Specialist at the FAIRR Initiative and Patrick Bertrand, Founder and Executive Director at Global Health Advocates.
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Professor Cole introduced the topic by outlining the shared responsibility of science, economics, politics and society in addressing the AMR challenge. FAIRR's Emma Berntman supported this analysis, highlighting the dramatic impact AMR could have on the economy, citing a 3.8% predicted reduction in GDP as a result of high-level AMR. This echoed a point made by Dame Sally Davies that economic losses due to AMR could reach USD 1.7 trillion by 2050. Panellists also quoted government budget cuts to global health initiatives around the world, as well as a growing mistrust in science all making it difficult to build essential public awareness and engagement with the challenge of AMR. As Patrick Bertand from Global Health Advocates simply put it; “how can we fight mistrust with no resources?”
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Penny Walker-Robinson from the UK Department of Health and Social Care was keen to focus on a more positive note, emphasising that "2024 has been an unprecedented year for global commitment around AMR" referring to the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in September and the 4th Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance in Jeddah in November. There was a clear feeling in the room around the need for this attention at policy level to be converted into action. This was followed by a discussion on the responsibility of industry and philanthropy in collaborating closely with policy makers due to the opportunity to implement longer term thinking where perhaps governments cannot.
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The panel concluded with some key takeaways, emphasising again the importance of convening and maintaining momentum around the topic as well as the essential need to do more to engage with the public to put pressure across policy, economics and society to take action to tackle this global challenge.
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Following these lively panel discussions, the event was concluded with Dr Paola B. Arimondo from the Institut Pasteur and Professor Christopher Schofield from the University of Oxford presenting the outcomes of a scientific workshop held the day before at the Institut Pasteur. The workshop saw researchers from the Institut Pasteur, CNRS, the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine come together to present on topics from seeking new approaches to antibacterial therapy (Matthew Fuchter, University of Oxford), to looking at alternative drug responses in human fungal pathogens (Luliana Ene, Institut Pasteur).
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The workshop was an excellent opportunity for scientists from the UK and France to come together to share knowledge and thought leadership and resulted in discussions of exciting new scientific collaborations around AMR.
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Dr Arimondo and Professor Schofield concluded with a short presentation of the Pasteur- Oxford joint PhD programme and the significant research benefits of collaborating across borders and drawing on each other’s strengths to tackle these global public health challenges.
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We are hugely grateful to all the speakers, researchers and guests who joined us in Paris across two days for this series of events and look forward to seeing the productive next steps which come out of the excellent discussions which took place.
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