Julian chairs conference panel of tackling antimicrobial resistance
January 24, 2024
Julian was delighted to Chair a Westminster Health Forum Conference on the priorities and next steps for tackling antimicrobial resistance in the UK.
Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a truly global issue that is not isolated by the confines of national borders and poses a significant threat to the world, particularly for less economically developed countries.
Julian is the Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on AMR and is incredibly passionate about increasing awareness of the urgent need to invest the time, energy, money, and political will into tackling AMR and preventing the negative consequences of inaction.
AMR is one of the world’s largest killers with almost 5 million deaths associated with bacterial resistance. It is estimated that by 2050, 10 million people will die annually as a result of AMR with the subsequent predicted cost to the global economy amounting to $100 trillion. To put the severity of this challenge and prospect into perspective, the COVID-19 pandemic has cost the global economy $17 trillion thus far.
This conference provided a brilliant opportunity to bring together industry experts and stakeholders, including Parliamentarians, UK Special Envoy on AMR, Dame Sally Davis, and Professor Lord Darzi to name but a few.
There was a unified consensus amongst all those present at the conference that more must be done to tackle this issue in the present in order to prevent this emerging threat and its potentially devastating consequences to human life and health, along with the global economy increasing. It is clear that there needs to be greater political commitment from more countries to address this challenge.
As touched upon by Lord Darzi during the conference, it is incredibly encouraging to see the recognition that this Government has given to the importance of AMR, especially through the commitment of £5 million government funding for the development of The Fleming Centre at St Mary’s Hospital London as we soon approach the centenary of the ground-breaking discovery of penicillin.
Julian has consistently used his platform as a Member of Parliament to increase awareness and further push the importance of AMR up the political agenda. This has included Julian submitting Written Questions to the relevant government ministers, his work as Chair of the APPG, and by asking questions on the floor of the Chamber of the House of Commons to the Minister of State for Development, The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP and the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Gareth Davies MP. Julian has stressed the importance of the UK being a world leader in tackling AMR in the run up to the United Nations’ General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance in September and has been engaging with the Minister for Development regularly on this matter. Additionally, Julian has stressed to government ministers in HM Treasury the importance of continuing to invest in our life sciences sector which is the largest in Europe to tackle emerging threats such as AMR.
Following the Conference, Julian commented
“I was delighted to Chair this Westminster Health Forum on tackling AMR and to meet with experts and stakeholders across the sector.
“Its so important that we increase awareness of the significant threat that AMR poses to human life and to the global economy and I have long been engaging with those in the sector and Government through my role as Chair of the APPG for Antibiotics and as an MP to build a coalition of political will so that we take the necessary steps and lead this fight on the world stage”.
