In association with GBCHealth, UK Department of Health and Social Care, MSD, IFPMA and BD.
Background to the dialogue series
In 2023, Wilton Park and GBCHealth convened a series of three dialogues bringing together a diverse set of stakeholders including policy makers, the private sector, academia, civil society, communication experts and AMR advocates from across human, animal, and the environment sectors. Through the series participants explored ways to reinvigorate the response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), including leading up to the AMR High-Level Meeting (HLM) at UNGA in 2024.
“The UN HLM is a unique and critical political moment, for political actors to take decisions and we need to provide them with the intellectual material and evidence.”
AMR is a global public health and development threat that impacts everyone, but especially the world’s most vulnerable people, contributing a huge burden of death and ill health, and causing widespread social and economic impacts at individual, community, and country levels.
While some progress was made following the first HLM on AMR in 2016 with various initiatives established, many of the gains were lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, and AMR’s significance fell from the global political agenda.
Despite the wide-reaching impacts on society today and the implications for future generations, challenges remain around how to build broad political commitments that result in sustained, multi-year action necessary to tackle the threat of AMR.
This Wilton Park – GBCHealth series complements and supports ongoing efforts to address AMR, including by the Quadripartite, Global Leaders Group and others, by providing space for the AMR community to strategize on how to reprioritise AMR on the political agenda.
The first two dialogues highlighted the importance of engaging parliamentarians and policy makers in shaping the political narrative for AMR, of developing a small number of high-level political asks aligned to evidence-based targets, and of early engagement and planning for the 2024 HLM.
The third dialogue in December 2023 focused on the road to the 2024 HLM with participants considering how best to leverage this political moment to accelerate the fight against AMR.
This report summarises the key themes and recommendations that emerged during the December dialogue, highlighting areas of agreement and disagreement, and emphasising issues participants felt should be prioritised during negotiations for the 2024 political declaration.