Antibiotic resistance – a silent threat

The Nordic Council Welfare Committee has just concluded a webinar debate with members of the European parliament, researchers and industry figures about antibiotic resistance.

The significant and ongoing increase in the use of antibiotics has led to a growing global problem in the form of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. COVID-19 and its effects further underline the importance of the Nordic and EU countries taking action. Failure to make the right policy decisions now may have grave consequences in the decades to come. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could also pose a serious threat to the treatment of people infected with COVID-19. For these reasons, the Nordic Council invited members of other parliamentary bodies to a webinar (“Antibiotic resistance – a silent threat in a noisy pandemic era”) to further discuss what concrete actions and measures must be taken next to deal with the threat of AMR in the light of COVID-19.

Bente Stein Mathisen, Chair of the Nordic Council Committee for Welfare in the Nordic region, and Nina Sandberg, Vice-Chair of the Committee for Welfare in the Nordic region, stated at the webinar that they like the Nordic countries to work together on a regulatory framework for the production of new antibiotics.