APPG on Antibiotics and APPG on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene joint-meeting
October 19, 2022
This morning, Julian chaired a joint-meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Antibiotics and the APPG on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. This meeting focused on the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This is where bacterial, viral and fungal infections mutate overtime and no longer respond to medication.
AMR is a huge problem globally. It is well established that poor water, sanitisation and hygiene (WASH) contributes to the problem as it gives infections a greater opportunity to spread and, therefore, mutate. It was estimated than in 2019, 4.5 million fatalities worldwide were linked directly to AMR.
The APPGs spoke about how it was keen to improve WASH services throughout the world. This will decrease the demand for antibiotics as it breaks the chain of infections decreasing the rate resistance develops. Each resistant infection will spread less, reducing sickness and the opportunity for a resistant infection to become dominant.
COVID demonstrated disastrous effect infectious diseases can have on global growth. AMR could contribute to 24 million more people being forced into extreme poverty by 2030.
By preventing these issues at source, i.e., in Lower- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), the risk of a repeat of the COVID pandemic is greatly reduced.
Julian said after the event:
“It was good to meet with various stakeholders regarding AMR, increasing WASH has the potential to slash worldwide fatalities as a result of AMR to a fraction of their current value and also reduce the chances of a repeat of the COVID pandemic repeating itself”
