title: International cooperation to improve access to and sustain effectiveness of antimicrobials.
abstract: Securing access to effective antimicrobials is one of the greatest challenges today. Until now, efforts to address this issue have been isolated and uncoordinated, with little focus on sustainable and international solutions. Global collective action is necessary to improve access to life-saving antimicrobials, conserving them, and ensuring continued innovation. Access, conservation, and innovation are beneficial when achieved independently, but much more effective and sustainable if implemented in concert within and across countries. WHO alone will not be able to drive these actions. It will require a multisector response (including the health, agriculture, and veterinary sectors), global coordination, and financing mechanisms with sufficient mandates, authority, resources, and power. Fortunately, securing access to effective antimicrobials has finally gained a place on the global political agenda, and we call on policy makers to develop, endorse, and finance new global institutional arrangements that can ensure robust implementation and bold collective action.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Årdal
authors.affiliation: School of Law, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA; Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security, London, UK.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Outterson
authors.affiliation: Global Strategy Lab, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada; Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.affiliation: Apollo Hospital, Chennai, India.
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ghafur
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Infectious Diseases Research Group, St George's University, London, UK.
authors.forename: Mike
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharland
authors.affiliation: Worldwide Antimalarial Resistance Network, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Nisha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ranganathan
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Public Health and Policy, London, UK.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden; ReAct-Action on Antibiotic Resistance, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zorzet
authors.affiliation: Access Campaign, Médecins Sans Frontières, Geneva, Switzerland; Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cohn
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pittet
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Daulaire
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; LSE Health, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Morel
authors.affiliation: Yale Law School, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
authors.forename: Zain
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Rizvi
authors.affiliation: Access Campaign, Médecins Sans Frontières, Geneva, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Manica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Balasegaram
authors.affiliation: Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security, London, UK; Public Health England, London, UK.
authors.forename: Osman A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Dar
authors.affiliation: Chatham House Centre on Global Health Security, London, UK; London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK; Public Health England, London, UK.
authors.forename: David L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Heymann
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance, and Department of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Alison H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance, and Department of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Luke S P
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy, Washington, DC, USA; Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton, NJ, USA; Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Ramanan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Laxminarayan
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mendelson
authors.affiliation: Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway; Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA; Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: john-arne.rottingen@fhi.no.
authors.forename: John-Arne
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Røttingen
mesh_terms: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000600:supply & distribution / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D006291:Health Policy; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods; D007391:International Cooperation; D011159:Population Surveillance
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents