Speech prepared for delivery at the Second Meeting of the Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance
Prime Minister Mia Motley of Barbados,
Dr. Haileyesus Getahun, Director, Tripartite Joint Secretariat on Antimicrobial Resistance
Colleagues, Friends
It is heartening to speak today in the knowledge that the global community is increasingly taking the threat that Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) poses to human health seriously – as it should. We didn’t take the threat of zoonotic pandemics seriously enough and are now living with the consequences. We cannot make this mistake again.
Already, 700,000 people die each year of resistant infections. There are also serious financial consequences: in the EU alone, AMR costs an estimated 1.5 billion per year in healthcare and productivity costs. The Global Leaders Group – along with other initiatives, including country action plans – shows that we are on the right track. But we need to accelerate action.
Ensuring sustainable financing for actions on AMR will be critical, as the agenda item you are about to discuss makes clear.
With concern over zoonotic diseases at an all-time high, governments can take advantage of the synergies available from tackling emerging disease threats concurrently. The Global Leaders Group has strategic access to forums to promote AMR integration in post-COVID-19 plans and financing. To incentivize private sector investment and build public-private partnerships. To bring the message that a One Health approach can reap cost savings by tackling multiple threats at the same time – because AMR and pandemics are partly driven by the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature loss and pollution, which in turn are driven by common factors.
UNEP will play its part, including through ‘Environmental Dimensions of Antimicrobial Resistance’, a report to be launched at UN Environment Assembly 5.2. This report will consider challenges and potential solutions for tackling AMR within an environmental framework. I look forward to sharing it with you.
It is time for us to act on the science and respond rapidly to AMR. I commend the Global Leaders Group for leading on this movement and look forward to hearing your plans for financing and action on a growing threat to human and planetary health.
Thank you.
Executive Director
