The Global Leaders Group on AMR (GLG) organised a side event on December 2, 2023 to spotlight the problems related to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), during the 28th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28).
The side event titled Political Action for AMR and Environment on the Road to the UNGA High-Level Meeting on AMR in 2024 was a part of a 12-day event programme which continued till December 12, 2023. The programme was developed as a collaboration between the world’s leading food and agriculture organizations – CGIAR, Food and Agriculture Organization, International Fund for Agricultural Development and The Rockefeller Foundation.
Experts including Qu Dongyu, Director-General, FAO; Hon Chris Fearne, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health of Malta and Vice Chair of the GLG; Hon Eng Mohammed Mousa Alameeri, Assistant Undersecretary for the Food Diversity Sector, Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, United Arab Emirates and a GLG Member; Sunita Narain, director-general, Centre for Science and Environment, India and a GLG Member; and Hon Beatrice Atim Odwong Anywar, Minister of State for Environment, Uganda and a GLG Member participated in the event. Maria Helena Semedo, deputy director-general, FAO served as the moderator of the event.
During the event, Narain shed light on the critical link between AMR, production systems and livelihoods. She emphasised that the world needs to focus on the core of the AMR issue, the sectors of agriculture and food-producing animals, where antibiotics are extensively used.
Agriculture, poultry, aquaculture and milk-producing farms are the focal points for addressing AMR, interconnected with challenges of climate change and biodiversity.
Narain highlighted the need to find out smart solutions while also acknowledging the vulnerability of smallholder agriculturists and ground-level realities faced by farmers. She emphasised to focus on livestock issues, particularly in countries like India, where livestock is integral to livelihoods.
“We need to reinvent our food systems; we need to think about sustainable, climate–resilient agriculture,” she stated in her address. “The waste from agricultural farms needs to be recycled and reused, which can only occur if it is not contaminated with antibiotics,” she added.
The leaders underscored the immediate need to transform agrifood systems to optimise animal, plant, and environmental health. The emphasis was on responsible use of antimicrobials, reducing their necessity and promoting innovation for sustainable alternatives.
Ensure all countries have developed multisectoral national action plans to address antimicrobial resistance, with functioning multisectoral and sector-specific coordination mechanisms by 2030, (Source: based on A/RES/71/3, para 12(a))
Establish or strengthen an inclusive national multisectoral coordinating body across human, animal, plant and environmental sectors for antimicrobial resistance, with appropriate human and financial resources and mandates to engage relevant ministries and stakeholders, (Source: new)
Request the Quadripartite organizations to update the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance by 2026 to ensure a robust and inclusive multisectoral One Health response that aligns with current realities to drive greater impact against antimicrobial resistance; All Member States are urged to have in place, within two
years of the endorsement of the action plan by the Health Assembly, national action plans on antimicrobial resistance that are aligned with the global action plan and with standards and guidelines established by intergovernmental bodies such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission, FAO and OIE.
Formalize the standing Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on Antimicrobial Resistance as the key coordinating mechanism of the global One Health response to antimicrobial resistance, drawing on the mandates and roles of the respective organizations, and other relevant organizations in each sector;
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