A global agreement to tackle antimicrobial resistance has been announced.
The deal was the fourth time the United Nations General Assembly has agreed coordinated action to tackle international health problems.
It promises action to tackle over-use of antimicrobials in medicine and agriculture.
This could include increased efforts to develop vaccination programmes for farm animals – reducing farming’s dependence on antibiotics.
The deal also calls for new incentives for investment in research and development.
The assembly president Peter Thomson said: “Antimicrobial resistance threatens the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and requires a global response.
“Member States have today agreed upon a strong political declaration that provides a good basis for the international community to move forward. No one country, sector or organisation can address this issue alone.”
The plans were welcomed by the charity Medicins Sans Frontieres. President Dr Joanne Liu said: “Now, governments have the responsibility to turn these words into action and to fully implement nationally-tailored plans and global commitments to combat antimicrobial resistance.
“From the war-wounded in Jordan, to new-borns in Pakistan and burn patients in Haiti, to people with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in South Africa, MSF sees drug-resistant infections everywhere, including infections that can only be treated with the very last lines of antibiotics.”
* The deal was announced as technology billionaire Mark Zuckerburg, founder of Facebook, announced a plan to spend £2.3 billion backing medical research over the next ten years.
With his wife, Dr Priscilla Chan, he said his aim was to “cure, prevent or manage all diseases by the end of the century.”
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