ICARS at the Fourth Global High Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance
From 14-16 November 2024, decision-makers and AMR stakeholders gathered in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for the Fourth Global High Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). Under the theme ‘From Declaration to Implementation,’ the conference built on the recent political declaration emerging from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and discussed how to translate the commitments into actionable, collaborative efforts to mitigate AMR.
Non-state actors’ day
The first day of the conference was dedicated to non-state actors, and brought together non-governmental organisations, private sector, academia, and others to discuss a series of important topics including the need for multisectoral collaboration, improved AMR diagnostics, and sustainable financing initiatives.
ICARS’ Executive Director, Dr Sujith J. Chandy, spoke on a panel entitled ‘Containing AMR through Public Private Partnerships, Raising Awareness and Promoting Action via Patient Groups, Community Leaders & Non-Traditional Influencers’. This discussion focused on the urgency of implementation and Dr Chandy in his interventions gave suggestions of what could be done in terms of implementing the National Action Plans. He urged for collaboration between various stakeholders and public-private partnerships. Most importantly he made a call for action on the ground, using top-down bottom-up approaches, informed by intervention and implementation research (IIR), with the goal of creating context-specific, cost-effective solutions which could be sustainably scaled up, sharing examples from ICARS-supported projects in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia.
Ministerial days
The following two days of the conference provided a platform for ministers to discuss key themes such as stewardship and surveillance, access and affordability, capacity development, and strengthened governance. With a series of high-level speakers and countries making strong calls to action against AMR, the Danish intervention included a call for increased resource mobilisation and highlighted the role of ICARS. The conference concluded with Ministers adopting the Jeddah Commitments, that build upon the Political Declaration on AMR with a series of practical, actionable, and cross-sectoral steps to address the growing threat AMR poses.
Side meetings
The conference was a great opportunity to meet so many of our close partners and discuss opportunities to collaborate moving forward. Furthermore, ICARS was pleased to participate in the 2nd Plenary session of the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform, focused on how the global AMR community can contribute to the implementation of the political commitments to address AMR.
Declaration reflection
2024 has been a pivotal year for building momentum for accelerated action against AMR. ICARS is ready to play a role in implementing the political commitments by continuing to support countries to co-develop, test, and scale-up sustainable AMR solutions, as illustrated in this brief reflecting on the UNGA Political Declaration on AMR. By pulling out key themes from the declaration, aligning them with ICARS’ strategic mission and model, and illustrating them with examples from ICARS-supported projects around the world, the brief aims to demonstrate ways of moving words into action.
From words to action: ICARS’ reflections on the Political Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance