Removing antimicrobial resistance from the WHO’s ‘pandemic treaty’ will leave humanity extremely vulnerable to future pandemics

The text was made available online via Health Policy Watch and it quickly became apparent that all mentions of addressing antimicrobial resistance in the Pandemic Instrument were at risk of removal.

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https://theconversation.com/removing-antimicrobial-resistance-from-the-whos-pandemic-treaty-will-leave-humanity-extremely-vulnerable-to-future-pandemics-206932https://theconversation.com/removing-antimicrobial-resistance-from-the-whos-pandemic-treaty-will-leave-humanity-extremely-vulnerable-to-future-pandemics-206932
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Sunday, June 4, 2023
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Plague, Health policy, Pathogenic bacteria, Antimicrobial stewardship, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Coronavirus, Infection, Policy, COVID-19, MRSA, INB, Global Leaders Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, World Health Assembly, Research, Goal, AMR, Fungus, Language, Hygiene, Genetically modified bacteria, Death, Pandemic, Antimalarial medication, Journal, Publishing, Animal, Antimicrobial, Patient, Risk, Cholera, Sanitation, Water, Intergovernmental, Parasitism, Tuberculosis, Bacteria, World, WHO, Environment, Virus, Pneumonia, World Health Organization, Vaccine, Medicine, Ethics, Northwestern University
Summary
Key Points: 
  • The text was made available online via Health Policy Watch and it quickly became apparent that all mentions of addressing antimicrobial resistance in the Pandemic Instrument were at risk of removal.
  • Just three years after the onset of a global pandemic, it is understandable why Member States negotiating the Pandemic Instrument have focused on preventing pandemics that resemble COVID-19.
  • But not all pandemics in the past have been caused by viruses and not all pandemics in the future will be caused by viruses.

Antimicrobial resistance

    • Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the process by which infections caused by microbes become resistant to the medicines developed to treat them.
    • AMR is fueling the rise of drug-resistant infections, including drug-resistant tuberculosis, drug-resistant pneumonia and drug-resistant Staph infections such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
    • That’s why the potential removal of measures that would help mitigate AMR and better safeguard antimicrobial effectiveness is so concerning.


    The exclusion of these measures would hinder efforts to protect people from future pandemics, and appears to be part of a broader shift to water-down the language in the Pandemic Instrument, making it easier for countries to opt-out of taking recommended actions to prevent future pandemics.

Making the ‘pandemic treaty’ more robust

    • They outlined that including bacterial pathogens in the definition of “pandemics” was critical.
    • They also identified specific provisions that should be tweaked to track and address both viral and bacterial threats.
    • These included AMR and recommended harmonizing national AMR stewardship rules.

Next steps

    • The Pandemic Instrument is the best option to mitigate AMR and safeguard lifesaving antimicrobials to treat secondary infections in pandemics.
    • AMR exceeds the capacity of any single country or sector to solve.
    • If governments are serious about pandemic preparedness, they must support bold measures to conserve the effectiveness of antimicrobials within the Pandemic Instrument.
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