AMR: EU Commission awards €45,000

Annually, AMR causes 25,000 deaths and over €1.5bn in healthcare costs and productivity losses in the EU alone. The same number of deaths is reported for the US. However, due to lack of figures, particularly in countries of the global South, the global impact can be only estimated. AMR has become a political priority globally. The European Commission, and the G20 have been supporting the WHO’s AMR action plan, and the Commission announced it will update its measures to combat antimicrobial from 1999 by summer 2017. The new Action Plan against AMR will be based on the One-Health approach, which recognises that the health of people, of animals and of the environment are inextricably linked.

The prize aims at rewarding outstanding initiatives by NGOs that significantly reduced the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to human health. Andriukaitis awarded the €20,000 first prize to BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, for their campaign “From Farm to You”, which has raised awareness about the causes of AMR, such as overuse of antimicrobials in livestock and misuse and overuse of antibiotics in human medicine.

At the award ceremony hosted by the University of Leuven in Belgium, the Commissioner said: “Averting this looming threat before it turns into a public health nightmare is my most pressing priority as Health Commissioner, and as a former doctor. I count on the continued help and commitment of organisations like BEUC.”

The second prize of €15,000 went to both the Alliance to save our Antibiotics, Compassion in World Farming and the Soil Association for their campaign to end the routine prophylactic mass-medication of farm animals.

Andriukaitis awarded the third prize of €10,000 to the World Alliance against Antibiotic Resistance for their campaign “Acting to Preserve Antibiotics” aimed at limiting the surge and spread of multi-drug resistant pathogens.

On 24th February, a number of experts from all over Europe will discuss current challenges in the antimicrobials market in Europe during the Berlin Conference on Novel Antimicrobials.