THE UK’S AMR STRATEGY AND COORDINATING A GLOBAL RESPONSE

The Westminster Health Forum on Antimicrobial Resistance took place on Thursday 20 February 2020 at Glaziers Hall, London – a month before the country went on lockdown due to the infectious disease SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19. The event was run by the Westminster Health Forum. Dr Tina Joshi was invited to attend as a member of the Microbiology Society Policy Committee, member of the Science Committee of Antibiotic Research UK, and on behalf of the University of Plymouth, where she lectures their future NHS biomedical scientists and healthcare staff on clinical microbiology (particularly on the impact of antimicrobial resistance).

I was excited to attend this event as my expectation (and assumptions) were that Members of Parliament (MPs) would be present at the forum, to hear about the progress in tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and for tangible outputs and actions. However, I was disappointed. Not a single MP attended and considering that at this point, COVID-19 was definitely on its way to spreading within the UK, it was surprising that there was no representation from government (that I was aware of) at an infectious disease focused policy event.