On 2-3 June 2015, members of DRIVE-AB helped to deliver an International Health Summit titled ‘A World Without Antibiotics’ which was held in Uppsala, Sweden, to bring together experts, delegates of civil society, and industry from around the world to discuss possible solutions to the global threat of antibiotic resistance.
At the Uppsala Health Summit 2015, the focus of the dialogue was on how our current state of knowledge and research and development capacity can be used and built upon to take steps on global, national and local levels to reduce the threat from antibiotic resistance.
Issues discussed in workshops and in the plenary included:
- – measures for rational use of antibiotics for human and animal purposes
- – global access to antibiotics
- – environmental issues
- – business models for innovation and release of new antibiotics
- – improved diagnostics
- – prevention of infections
DRIVE-AB had a number of representatives attending the Uppsala Health Summit and was closely involved in the preparation and management of the event. Prof Otto Cars (Uppsala University) and Dr Ramanan Laxminarayan (University of Strathclyde) were keynote speakers, and other DRIVE-AB members Dr John-Arne RØttingen (Norwegian Institute of Public Health) and Prof Kevin Outterson (Boston School of Law and Chatham House) gave talks in the workshop titled “New economic models addressing antibiotic resistance”.
Other DRIVE-AB members that were involved in the organization of the Health Summit include Prof Alexandra Waluszewski, Prof Enrico Baraldi, Prof Francesco Ciabuschi, and Dr Anna Zorzet (Uppsala University).
Numerous other DRIVE-AB participants, partners, and stakeholders, as well as Brendan Barnes of EFPIA and Angela Wittelsberger of the Innovative Medicines Initiative, attended the Summit and contributed to the rich discussions on what can be done to solve one of the world’s greatest public health threats; antimicrobial resistance. Expected in the fall of 2015, the Uppsala Health Summit report will collate all discussions, ideas, and recommendations.
For more information, please see the Uppsala Health Summit, “A world without antibiotics”, website.