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Government launches two new major national documents on tackling antimicrobial resistance

The Government has launched two new major national documents on tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The Tackling antimicrobial resistance 2019–2024. The UK’s five-year national action planand Contained and controlled: The UK’s 20-year vision on antimicrobial resistance were developed across the Government, its agencies, and administrations in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, with support from a range of stakeholders.

The five-year plan lays out three key ways in which the Government will take action against AMR both in the UK and beyond: reducing the need for antimicrobials by lowering the burden of infection in humans and animals; optimising antimicrobial use in humans and animals through better stewardship; and investing in research and development of new antibiotics, diagnostics, and vaccines.

Key target actions in the five-year plan include a 15% decrease in human antibiotic use by 2024; reducing the incidence of a specified set of drug-resistant infections by 10% by 2024; continuing work to halve health care associated Gram-negative blood stream infections by 2024; adding Carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative infections to the list of notifiable diseases in existing laboratory reporting systems; being able to report on the percentage of prescriptions supported by a diagnostic test or decision support tool by 2024; and working through UK Aid to help reduce the global burden of drug-resistant infections, in line with agreed global targets on key diseases, including TB.

To encourage development of new antibiotics, the plan says the Government will test a new payment model that will reimburse pharmaceutical companies based on how valuable their drugs are to the NHS, rather than on the quantity of antibiotics sold.

The 20-year plan sets out the UK’s vision of a world in which AMR is effectively contained, controlled, and mitigated by 2040.


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