Oman chosen host for major international health meet

Muscat: At the conclusion of the 2nd Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance, held in Noordwijk, Netherlands during 19-20 June, the Sultanate was unanimously selected to hold and organise the next AMR Ministerial meeting.
The Second Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance gathered Ministers of Health and Ministers of Agriculture and Animal Health
representing (45) countries around the world.
Global efforts
The meeting aimed to unify global efforts to develop and implement national action plans to address the problem of antibiotic resistance that has threatened the global health achievements and caused the deaths of millions of people.
The issue of antibiotic resistance represents a major challenge to animal health and threatens world food security. Moreover, one panel focused on the impact of the problem on the global economy and the economies of countries. Furthermore, the meeting reviewed the scale of the problem from data retrieved from WHO and OIE national and international surveillance programs of different countries.
Figures revealed that the modern medicine will be incapable of treating the simplest infections and communicable diseases in humans and animals if no effective interventions are done to address this problem.
All participating countries agreed on instant activation of national action plans for antimicrobial resistance.
The Sultanate was selected to organise the next Ministerial meeting due to its effective participation in the meeting along with the efforts of all specialised authorities in the country exerted in tackling AMR, in addition to its distinct geographical location that would trigger more countries to involve in the next meeting.
The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will organise the third ministerial meeting in collaboration with the Tripartite Alliance formed by United Nations to coordinate global efforts for antimicrobial resistance, which includes World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) Addressing the rising threat of AMR.
The next meeting will be held in the first quarter of 2021.