World leaders in science, public health and economics are to consider plans to tackle the global health threat posed by antibiotic resistance at the BioInfect 2016 conference to be held at Alderley Park, Cheshire on 3 November.
Antibiotic resistance was declared 'the greatest and most urgent global risk' to public health at an extraordinary gathering of the United Nations; all 193 members signed a political declaration committing them to creating national plans for combating antibiotic resistance in medicine, agriculture, and the environment, and to reporting back to the General Assembly in 2018 on their progress.
The problem of antibiotic resistance currently claims around 700,000 lives a year globally, but an independent review by Lord Jim O’Neill for the UK government has estimated that fatalities could soar to 10 million by 2050 as effective antibiotics are exhausted.
Lord O’Neill, chair of the UK Review on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), is the keynote speaker at BioInfect 2016.
'We very much welcome the attendance of Lord O’Neill, whose Review has been in the vanguard of the UK’s response to the issue, along with leading authorities and companies working in human and animal health from around the world,' said Dr Geoff Davison, CEO of the north of England industry group Bionow, which organises the event.
Dr Chris Doherty, managing director at Alderley Park, said: '2016 is shaping up to be a milestone year in the battle against AMR. At Alderley Park we are developing a cluster of companies working on solutions to antimicrobial resistance. There are also the necessary skills and expertise here to develop new antibiotics from academic ideas and take into the clinic for testing, meaning that we are ready to help meet the global challenge posed by AMR.'
