This week, Global Coalition on Aging and the Acton Institute brought together senior clergy, scientists, patient advocates and private sector representatives at the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Vatican City to discuss the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the need for innovative health products that can diagnose, prevent, and treat drug-resistant diseases. At our November 12 symposium, “Solving for Antimicrobial Resistance: A Rising Global Health and Humanitarian Crisis,” participants debated the steps needed to solve the #AMR crisis. Antimicrobials are foundational to modern medicine; they have revolutionized human health, extending the promises of healthy longevity across the world. AMR poses a grave threat to humanity. As the medicines we use to heal fatal infections become ineffective against disease-causing microbes, we find ourselves living in a world of increasing health disparities. For millions of people, routine medical treatments are becoming increasingly unsafe, undermining efforts to expand longevity for all. Problems like sepsis caused by community and hospital-acquired infections are growing increasingly threatening. As AMR worsens, we are on the threshold of returning to a world without antimicrobials. It is therefore important that hospitable policy and financing conditions are created to support the development of these innovations. The G7 has committed to implementing a coordinated set of push incentives to fund R&D and pull incentives to procure antimicrobials regardless of sales volume, thereby ensuring a sustainable supply of new, innovative medicines for everyone without encouraging overuse. These solutions are crucial to ensuring that we have new antimicrobials that can treat infections even if existing treatments fail.
