Your Excellency Prime Minister Mottley,
Excellencies, Dear colleagues and friends,
Good morning, good afternoon and good evening.
First, let me thank you for your continuing work to alert the world and strengthen its response to the threat of antimicrobial resistance.
This discussion is very timely indeed.
COVID-19 has revealed and exacerbated fundamental weaknesses in pandemic preparedness and response at both national and global levels.
It has exposed complex and fragmented governance and a lack of leadership;
Inadequate financing;
And insufficient systems and tools.
These same weaknesses are also true of the global response to AMR, an urgent global health threat that is associated with up to 5 million deaths every year.
COVID-19 has also demonstrated in a dramatic way what we have long-known from our experience with AMR: that the health of humans, animals and our environment are closely connected.
We can only truly address the major health challenges of our time with a One Health approach, recognizing that our fates as a global community are intertwined.
As you know, the World Health Assembly has established an intergovernmental negotiating body to develop a new international agreement, or treaty, on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
At least four of the elements needed for that response are the same as those needed for AMR:
To build national, regional and global capacities in surveillance;
To develop global policies to ensure equitable access to new and existing tools;
To develop new tools and systems to better prevent and respond to diseases;
And to mobilize sustainable financing.
With a pandemic and a war dominating the headlines, AMR may not be front and centre of most people’s minds at the moment, but the threat it poses has not receded.
Thank you all for your continued attention to this issue.
I wish you a very productive discussion.
I thank you.