Julian re-elected Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group on Antibiotics
December 8, 2022
Julian is delighted to have been re-elected as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Antibiotics this week.
The APPG aims to raise the profile of antibiotic resistance, the need to preserve antibiotics through greater education on their appropriate use including non-human use, the lack of new treatments for bacterial infections, along with boosting efforts to discover, research and develop new treatments.
The issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has perhaps never been so pressing. It is thought that AMR could contribute to 24 million more people being forced into extreme poverty by 2030 and cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050. To counter these worrisome projections, significant time, investment and global cooperation is needed.
Alongside the APPG on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, the APPG on Antibiotics has recently concluded an inquest looking at how improving issues with sanitation and hygiene in lower-income countries will decrease the demand for antibiotics as it breaks the chain of infections decreasing the rate resistance develops. The findings from the inquest will be published in a report next year.
In his first official role as Chairman of the APPG since he re-election, Julian is scheduled to take part in a talk alongside a constituent at the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy Winter Conference next week where they will discuss the personal, clinical and political impact of managing multi-drug resistant infections
Following his re-election, Julian commented,
“I am really grateful that my colleagues have given me the opportunity to continue to lead the APPG for the next year. Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest health challenges facing the world and the time to act is now.
I look forward to the APPG hitting the ground running in the new year and doing all we can with crossbench colleagues to raise awareness of this issue by ensuring it remains at the top of the Government’s agenda.”
