Tuesday 27 April, 2021

MEDIA ADVISORY

High-Level Interactive Dialogue on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), 29 April 2021, 10.00 EDT

Countries embark to accelerate actions for tackling antimicrobial resistance – an urgent global health and development threat

What: The President of the United Nations General Assembly, Volkan Bozkır, will bring together government representatives; leaders from pharmaceutical and agricultural companies; representatives from United Nations institutions, international organizations and civil society groups as well as members of the general public to discuss and recommit to actions to address Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. AMR poses threats to human wellbeing, animal health and welfare, food safety and security and is a major obstacle for countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Why: Despite increased efforts at global, regional, and country level, AMR continues to pose severe threats to human, animal, plant and environmental health, undermining livelihoods, food safety and global food security and could put millions of people back into poverty.

Expected Outcome: The meeting will focus on strengthening political commitment to tackling AMR, taking stock of progress, recommitting to actions and ensuring that addressing AMR is a key factor in plans to build back better from COVID-19 and in preparing for future pandemics.UN Member States will present an ambitious, action-oriented Call to Action, containing voluntary commitments countries can take to begin tackling the growing threat of AMR.

Speakers will include:

·        H.E. Mr. Volkan Bozkir, President of the UN General Assembly

·        H.E. Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, UN

·        Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh and Mia Mottley of Barbados, Co-Chairs of the One Health Global Leaders Group on AMR

·        Dr. QU Dongyu, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and Dr. Monique Eloit, Directors-General of the Tripartite (Food and Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization and World Organisation for Animal Health)

·        Ms. Henrietta Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF

·        Ms. Joyce Msuya, Deputy Executive Director, UNEP

·        Ministers of Health from the United Kingdom, Ghana, Sweden, Fiji, Russian Federation, Germany, and others

·        Members of the One Health Global Leaders Group on AMR, industry leaders and AMR experts

When: Thursday, 29 April 2021, 10:00 EDT

Where: The virtual event will be hosted at UN Headquarters in New York and will be accessible on UN WebTV.

Related links:

Event schedule: https://www.un.org/pga/75/antimicrobial-resistance/

Event Concept Note: https://www.un.org/pga/75/wp-content/uploads/sites/100/2021/03/PGA-letter-High-level-dialogue-on-AMR-concept-note-and-programme.pdf

WHO AMR website: https://www.who.int/health-topics/antimicrobial-resistance

FAO AMR website: http://www.fao.org/antimicrobial-resistance/en/

OIE AMR website: www.oie.int/antimicrobialresistance

One Health Global Leaders Group on AMR website: https://www.who.int/groups/one-health-global-leaders-group-on-antimicrobial-resistance

Media contacts:

Office of the President of the UN General Assembly – Amy Quantrill (amy.quantrill@un.org)

WHO – Angelica Spraggins (spragginsan@who.int)

FAO - FAO Newsroom (FAO-Newsroom@FAO.org)

OIE – OIE Media (media@oie.int)

UN – Sharon Birch-Jeffrey (birchs@un.org)

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