Commission: Antimicrobial resistance among biggest global health threats

The European Commission has said it backs the stance of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the importance of approaching the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in a multilateral, global way.

Speaking before lawmakers of the European Parliament’s health committee (ENVI) on Thursday (22 April), the EU’s health chief Stella Kyriakides referred to antimicrobial resistance as “one of the most serious threats to global health”.

She added that COVID-19 has further highlighted the importance of addressing this global problem.

The EU’s recently unveiled pharmaceutical strategy notes that AMR decreases the capability to treat infectious diseases and threatens the ability to perform routine surgery.

AMR is the ability of microorganisms to resist antimicrobial treatments, especially antibiotics, and represents a deadly threat that claims 33,000 lives in the EU every year, with the potential of becoming a bigger killer than cancer by 2050.