Huffington Post: Drug-Resistant TB Should Figure Prominently In The Global AMR Response
Madhukar Pai, professor and director of global health at McGill University

“…[I]t may be more impactful for [drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB)] control to be seen as one component of a comprehensive strategy to address [antimicrobial resistance (AMR)]. While TB gets little attention, AMR is increasingly seen as a global health emergency and a security threat. Policymakers and donor agencies have prioritized AMR as a key issue for the global health security agenda, and the upcoming U.N. meeting is one component of this global response. … [T]he door is wide open for the TB community to leverage this interest, and advocate for a well-funded, comprehensive AMR initiative that includes DR-TB as a key component. In fact, DR-TB could well be a pathfinder for successfully tackling AMR in low- and middle-income countries, and help make the case for greater investments. It is time for the TB community to advocate for including TB in the broader agenda to tackle AMR globally, and make sure DR-TB receives adequate funding and support” (9/20).

Global Health NOW: 3 Key Steps After the U.N. Political Declaration on AMR
Anthony D. So, director of ReAct — Action on Antibiotic Resistance Strategic Policy Program and of the new Innovation + Design for Enabling Access (IDEA) Initiative in the Department of International Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Reshma Ramachandran, assistant scientist in the ReAct Strategic Policy Program and the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School

“…We believe the following three steps are essential for the [expected U.N. Political Declaration] to succeed in stemming the tide of AMR: 1. Implementing the Political Declaration should ensure that resources are targeted upstream in the [research and development (R&D)] pipeline to transform the ecosystem for innovation, not just by giving incentives to one company or one drug at a time. … 2. Financing should not only be mobilized for innovation of new technologies, but also for innovation of practice. … 3. To inform both global and national policies to effectively address AMR, transparent monitoring of antimicrobial use, sales, prescriptions, trade, resistance, as well as access is needed. … Only with effective implementation will the U.N. General Assembly’s Political Declaration take us a step closer to a future free from the fear of untreatable infections” (9/20).