Julian chairs discussion with National Medical Examiner on registering AMR deaths
May 9, 2023
In his capacity as Chair of The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Antibiotics, Julian brought together industry leaders and parliamentarians to discuss the existential threat of drug-resistant infections and question how accurate death certificates really are. The session also offered a fantastic opportunity to draw on the expertise of Dr Alan Fletcher, the National Medical Examiner for England and Wales.
The APPG session follows the landmark report, ‘Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis’ and is very much in tune with Julian and the APPG’s belief that antibiotic resistance is a major threat to human health, not just domestically but globally. The session was also enriched by the input of Dr Catrin Moore who is one of the authors of the report.
The session sought to encourage Parliamentarians to recognise and consider the impact that antibiotic resistance is already having to mortality rates and begin to increase wider societal awareness and task Government with taking further appropriate steps.
The APPG on Antibiotics are campaigning to have deaths due to complications related to antibiotic resistance more accurately recorded on death certificates so the scale of the issue can be better assessed leading to more informed policy.
Following the session Julian commented that,
“This was a positive and insightful discussion that further shines a light on the importance of raising awareness of the threat that antibiotic resistance poses to life.
The APPG on Antibiotics will really hammer home this year to the Government the desperate need to put this understated health risk firmly on the Government’s agenda going forward”.
