APPG on Antibiotics report launch
February 20, 2023
On Monday, the APPG on Antibiotics, of which Julian is Chairman, and the APPG on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, chaired by Fleur Anderson MP, launched their report, Prevention First: Why clean water and hygiene are the best medicine against the spread of drug-resistant infections.
The day of the report’s launch in Parliament saw healthcare professionals from across the country visit Westminster to lobby MPs and stage a flash mob as a way to raise awareness around the importance of urgently tackling the dangers of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The healthcare professionals were joined by actors from the musical ‘The Mould That Changed the World’, an Edinburgh fringe sell-out musical that focuses on Alexander Fleming and the creation of antibiotics.
Julian has long emphasised the importance of recognising the reality of the threat posed by AMR, which is already a major cause of death globally, and could have health and socio-economic consequences far worse than those seen as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UK is a world leader when it comes to recognising antibiotic resistance as the serious threat that it is, however, it must continue to use its ‘soft’ power on the world stage to encourage international partners to join the fight against AMR and achieve much needed progress in achieving universal access to WASH in healthcare facilities.
Julian looks forward to continue working cross-party when joining Fleur Anderson MP to meet with Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office Minister (FCDO), the Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP w to discuss what further measures the UK can do internationally to increase access to WASH in healthcare facilities. The UK has a proud history of supporting developing countries through our world renowned UK Aid programme, and that is why we need to recognise the reality that half of the world’s healthcare facilities do not have basic hand hygiene services, rising to two thirds across the 46 least developed countries.
The report makes key recommendations to the Government and encourages cross-departmental collaboration in achieving them. The Report argues that the UK must firstly take the lead on international advocacy to improve WASH in HCFs to help prevent antibiotic resistance and raising this at the next G7 meeting in May 2023. Secondly, the UK must provide its fair share of funding for WASH in HCFs which equates at just 0.3% of its annual overseas aid budget. Thirdly, ensure that all FCDO health programmes support and catalyse progress on WASH.
We need to recognise that this is a global issue that urgently needs to be addressed with most resistant infections treated by the NHS originating from outside of the UK.
