World leaders tout AMR declaration, while NGOs sigh

Presented by MedTech Europe

By RORY O’NEILL

PRESENTED BY

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— Leaders have agreed to a political declaration on antimicrobial resistance. NGOs are disappointed, but is it really so bad?

— The World Health Organization has allied with TikTok to curb the spread of health misinformation.

— What will it take to be prepared for the next pandemic? It’s not looking good, Gastein heard.

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IS THE AMR DECLARATION REALLY SO BAD? There’s plenty of disappointment from NGOs surrounding the political declaration on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) adopted at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. But are we being too dour? World leaders stressed the positives at a briefing for reporters yesterday, highlighting ambitious targets, fundraising pledges, and the promotion of independent, scientific evidence in the 15-page document. 

Headline figure: Leaders committed to reduce the estimated 4.95 million human deaths associated with bacterial AMR annually by 10 percent by 2030. Researchers fear that figure could rise to 8.22 million by 2050, if AMR is not dealt with. Governments also aim to raise $100 million to help lower-income countries fund national action plans on AMR.

Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the declaration was a strong signal of leaders’ will to act on AMR. “We now need to turn these commitments into real actions and intensify our global collaboration in tackling AMR. We are at a turning point that could define the health and well-being of future generations,” she said.

Credit where it’s due: Mia Mottley, prime minister of Barbados and chair of the Global Leaders Group on AMR, won plaudits from fellow speakers, including World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for her leadership. Shepherding a negotiation like this one over the line isn’t easy — Morning Health Care knows, having seen the weary faces of pandemic agreement negotiators up close.

Independent evidence: Mottley was keen to stress what was achieved rather than what wasn’t. One of the most important features of the declaration, in her view, is the establishment of an independent panel to produce scientific evidence on AMR. “We’ve all seen the absolute, utter importance of that when it came to giving us information on the climate,” Mottley said.

The panel will be modeled on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a body whose robust, extensively-researched and terrifying warnings are delivered to governments. If that’s what we can expect from the new independent panel on AMR, then strap in.

Sanitation an ‘afterthought’: Tim Wainwright, chief executive of WaterAid, says water, sanitation, and hygiene “has been treated as an afterthought” despite being “our readily available first-line defence against antimicrobial resistance.”

DR TIKTOK WILL SEE YOU NOW: The World Health Organization is partnering with social media platform TikTok to create “reliable content and combat misinformation” in France, the U.K. and the U.S. (among others), the pair has announced. They’ll use the Fides network — a group of trusted health care professionals and content creators — to “translate complex scientific research into relatable and digestible video content, expanding across various health topics.” The WHO will also provide advice to influencers via TikTok on content training programs. 

Reading between the lines: The WHO’s chief scientist Jeremy Farrar said he hoped the move would represent an “inflection point in how platforms can be more socially responsible.” He added: “By working with TikTok, we are helping people access credible information and engage in scientific discourse that cumulatively helps shape a healthier future.”

Recap: Gasteiners heard this week how Youtube also works with the WHO to identify what good health content looks like so credible sources can be flagged.

Interesting timing: Nevertheless, the choice for the WHO to partner with TikTok seems on the face of it like a curious one. The European arm of the WHO only this week came out with a study which highlighted “potentially damaging” social media use by teenagers, a rising proportion of which are showing addictive-like behaviors towards the online platforms.

The bright side of social media? Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe, did also say that the study showed that social media could have both positive and negative consequences for young people, and there needed to be more “digital literacy education” to help young people develop a healthy approach to being online.

Let’s hope it goes better than… the WHO’s prototype virtual health aide, Sarah, who memorably often gave out poor advice, including incorrect suicide hotline numbers.

Misinformation has also been one of the big buzzwords at the Gastein conference in Austria, where TikTok doctor-turned-MEP András Kulja warned that the groundwork needs to be laid before the next pandemic. While he called for “strict regulation” of platforms, he said that it was also important as clinicians and authorities to “build up the trust.” “We must find the health communicators” to do that, he said, adding that introducing the public to new faces during a pandemic-period isn’t the best solution.

Who else is concerned? The new head of the European Center for Disease Protection and  Control (ECDC), Pamela Rendi-Wagner, who told journalists at a briefing in Gastein that the constantly changing advice during the pandemic had undermined the public’s trust in the guidance.

Good communicators stop conspiracy theories spreading, she suggested, adding that it’s important to keep language simple. “People do not understand the vocabulary used by epidemiologists and medics,” she said.

**A message from MedTech Europe: Positively transforming lives and healthcare systems in Europe. That’s the #PowerOfMedtech.**

ASKING THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION: Are we ready for the next pandemic? And if not, how do we get there? That’s the question we’ve been wondering since Covid-19 and that panelists at Gastein tried to answer on Thursday, during the third and penultimate day of the forum.

Teamwork makes the dreamwork: Rendi-Wagner, at ECDC, said the key to being ready lies in coordination and cooperation. “Without joint preparedness planning across relevant sectors, we cannot even hope to be ready for the next pandemic,” she told the audience. This means cooperation between countries, between international organizations, and, most importantly, between “scientific silos.”

What will the next pandemic look like? The next pandemic will likely come from an animal reservoir, Rendi-Wagner said. And with this in mind, fully embracing the One Health approach — which focuses on the links between animal, environmental and human health — is fundamental.

“Currently, between 60 and 70 percent of all emerging communicable diseases are zoonotic, jumping from the animals to the human,” said Isabel de la Mata, the Commission’s principal adviser for health and crisis management. If we want to prevent these diseases from becoming a problem for us, we need to prevent them from spreading among the animals, she said. 

Tell me something I don’t know: I know, we’ve all heard of One Health (more than) a few times before. But it can be more than a buzzword, panelists said. “I do think that One Health is a magnifying lens to look into the areas that we might otherwise forget,” Andrea E. Schmidt, head of climate and health at the Austrian National Public Health Institute, said.

So how do we convince everyone to work together? It’s not easy, Schmidt said. It requires “speaking the same language” and a lot of trust. “Ultimately, the people who work in the Ministry of Environment or the people who work in the Ministry of Health will need to be convinced that it’s important to work together,” Schmidt said.

In the meantime: Let’s not forget the power of prevention, said Greens MEP Tilly Metz, who joined the panel remotely. This includes stopping intensive farming, which fosters cross species transmission, and switching to more plant-based foods, Metz said.

“We need to be more consistent and coherent, putting protection of public health as a priority,” she said. “And therefore we also need to tackle the issues of animal welfare, a more sustainable agriculture, a more healthy environment.” 

And this all needs funding: But, Metz said, while we should see what investments are needed, we should also consider what it will cost if we don’t react.

IT’S (ALMOST) A WRAP AT GASTEIN: Claudia, Mari and Helen heard from many of the great and good in the health policy world this week (including many a Morning Health Care reader). A few last panels are taking place this morning, on unjust food systems and chronic diseases, among others, before the forum officially comes to an end for this year. 

Spotted: One of the key takeaways for Gastein first-timers Claudia and Mari was the prevalence of speakers from the public sector, civil society and academia, a change to your average Brussels-based conference which tends to be more industry-heavy. Companies made up less than 20 percent of attendees, according to organizers. It didn’t always used to be like this, we hear…

Not spotted: The Hungarian presidency. While there was plenty of talk in the conference about the Hungarian commissioner-designate for health, and EU presidencies past (with particular shout-outs for the recent Belgian presidency), there was little mention of the current Hungarian presidency of the EU, and no representative at the conference. We’re told by event organizers that invites were extended to the presidency but they declined. 

EMA RECOMMENDS PRECAUTIONARY OXBRYTA SUSPENSION: The European Medicines Agency has recommended suspending the marketing authorization for Pfizer’s sickle cell disease drug Oxbryta “as a precaution” while a review of emerging data is ongoing, the regulator said Thursday.

Why? It follows two studies which suggested that patients have a higher rate of vaso-occlusive crises (VOC) during treatment with Oxbryta than they did before starting the medicine. VOCs are one of the most common complications of sickle cell disease and involve episodes of acute pain. They can also lead to further health complications, like arthritis, kidney failure and stroke. 

The EMA has been reviewing the benefits and risks of Oxbryta since July. That review was triggered as data from a clinical trial showed that a higher number of deaths occurred with Oxbryta than with placebo, while another trial showed the total number of deaths was higher than anticipated. 

Already on it: Pfizer announced on Wednesday that it would be withdrawing Oxbryta from all markets where it is approved, citing risks of a painful complication and deaths.

Antimicrobial resistance could disrupt the global economy, Anthony McDonnell writes in the FT.

Congolese authorities are in a race to combat mpox misinformation as vaccine rollout begins, The Guardian reports.

People with low health literacy turning to AI for advice, The Irish Times reports.

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