At the 10^th Anniversary of the European Antibiotic Awareness day, on 15 November, Vytenis Andriukaitis, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, and Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation made a joint statement on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), a threat that by 2050 “could potentially kill one person every three seconds and become a more common cause of death than cancer”. In order to address this issue, the EU has created an action plan with three main objectives: 1) Making the EU a best practice region; 2) Boosting research and innovation; and 3) Shaping the global agenda. In more concrete terms, this June, the Commission adopted EU Guidelines on the prudent use of antimicrobials in human health; in September was launched the European Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance and HealthCare-Associated Infections (EUJAMRAI), involving 28 countries; and in October, ECDC, EFSA and EMA adopted a Scientific Opinion setting out indicators that address both the human and animal sectors so that the EU and Member States can measure progress. On research, investment will continue under Horizon 2020 where until now, projects with a cumulative budget of €350 million are funded and additional €200 million has been committed to AMR for the next three years. To know more about contribution of chemistry to AMR, read the conclusions of the EuCheMS-EFMC-STOA workshop on this topic.
Source: http://europa.eu/