Experts welcome World Health Day on antibiotic resistance as timely

The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) welcomes the focus on drug resistance for this year’s World Health Day as it is an issue that the Society has been proactively working on for the past 25 years. 

A combination of factors – from the misuse and abuse of antibiotics by physicians and lack of adherence to treatment by patients, to an absence of coordinated surveillance and a lack of new drugs in the pipeline - mean that we are witnessing a rise in both the number and types of micro organisms resistant to antibiotics.

“The speed of the spread of antimicrobial resistance, in both hospital settings and in communities, combined with the limited availability of existing antibiotics and the absence of new ones in the drug pipeline, are very much cause for alarm but also action, “ said ESCMID President, Professor Giuseppe Cornaglia, who is one of the speakers at the WHO Regional Office for Europe (EURO) event organised to mark World Health Day in Moscow.

“We strongly believe the basis for combating antimicrobial resistance is education – both the medical community and the public – and building more rational systems for prescribing antibiotics. The lack of coordinated surveillance and regular guidance for prescribing also pose challenges which need to be addressed urgently at the national, regional and global level,” said Professor Cornaglia. 

ESCMID, a scientific society that reaches out to more than 33,000 microbiologists and infectious diseases specialists in Europe and around the world, is one of the main Convenors of EUCAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing) which strives to harmonise how antimicrobial resistance figures are measured and compared between countries.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­The European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases is a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infection-related diseases. This is achieved by promoting and supporting research, education, training, and good medical practice   www.escmid.org