Antibiotics must be accessible to citizens who need them

The 2019 UN Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) called for equitable access to affordable, safe, effective and quality antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines. The Declaration also recognised antimicrobial resistance as a threat to universal health coverage and committed to increase research and regulatory capacity, as well as antimicrobial stewardship activities.

Health care as a public good has been debated in the strictest economic terms. The on-going COVID-19 pandemic is stark evidence of the intricate link between health and economic development and should help to change such narrative. Nonetheless, these political commitments and renewed efforts in many countries on universal health coverage help to facilitate health care as a public good.