U2NESCO 2016
UNITED NATIONS HEALTH COUNCIL
CHAIR REPORT
Committee: Health
Agenda: Measures to eliminate the overuse of antibiotics in both medical treatment and
agriculture globally and promote research on new antibiotics to cure the antibiotic resistant
forms of diseases.
Officer: Lyle Hansen
Introduction
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Since the rise of antibiotic use in agricultural production, bacteria have evolved to be
harder to treat using current antibiotics.
Such deadly diseases which used to be curable are becoming resistant such as:
Tuberculosis, syphilis, gonorrhea, Staphylococcus, pneumonia, and many more.
Many patients using antibiotics do not complete the treatment and thus inadvertently
foster antibiotic resistant bacteria.
Many antibiotics are overprescribed for basic illnesses by doctors who receive financial
incentives from pharmaceutical companies for using more antibiotics.
In some developing and less economically developed countries antibiotics can be
purchased over the counter with no prescription.
The number of deaths related to antibiotic resistant diseases exceeds 20,000 a year,
costing $1.5 million in the European Union alone.
In May of 2015, the World Health Assembly introduced a global action plan was
made with 5 main objectives:
1. To improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance
2. To strengthen surveillance and research
3. To reduce the incidence of infection
4. To optimize the use of antimicrobial medicines
5. To ensure sustainable investment in countering antimicrobial resistance.
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Diseases that resist antibiotics are one of the biggest threats to international health
because they can reach to any country, state, city, town and home. Since this is natural,
any misuse of antibiotics damages and increases the speed of the spread, which is what is
happening in both medicine and agriculture globally.
Definition of Key Terms
W.H.O. (World Health Organization)
E.U.F.I.C. (European Food Information Council)
N.A.R.M.S. (National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System)
F.D.A. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
N.R.D.C. (National Resources Defense Council)
A.P.U.A. (Alliance for a Prudent Use of Antibiotics)
K.A.W. (Keep Antibiotics Working)
C.D.C. (Center for Disease Control)
I.A.T.P. (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy)
C.I.W.F. (Compassion In World Farming)
C.S.P.I. (Center for Science in the Public Interest)
Antibiotic: A drug used to treat bacterial infections. Antibiotics have no effect on viral
infections. Originally, an antibiotic was a substance produced by one microorganism that
selectively inhibits the growth of another. Synthetic antibiotics, usually chemically related to
natural antibiotics, have since been produced that accomplish comparable tasks.
Antibiotic resistance: The ability of bacteria and other microorganisms to resist the effects of an
antibiotic to which they were once sensitive. Antibiotic resistance is a major concern of overuse
of antibiotics. Also known as drug resistance.
Prescription: A physician's order for the preparation and administration of a drug or device for a
patient. A prescription has several parts. They include the superscription or heading with the
symbol "R" or "Rx", which stands for the word recipe (meaning, in Latin, to take); the
inscription, which contains the names and quantities of the ingredients; the subscription or
directions for compounding the drug; and the signature which is often preceded by the sign "s"
standing for signa (Latin for mark), giving the directions to be marked on the container.
History of Past Actions
Antimicrobial Resistance: A Global Threat (2000)
Overcoming Antimicrobial Resistance (2000)
W.H.O. Global Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance (2001)
Global Action plan on antimicrobial resistance (2015)
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Penicillin, after 4 years of the drug being mass produced, a disease resistant to tat drug
was found. (1947)
MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) was responsible for 37% of fatal
causes of blood poisoning in the UK in 1999, more than 4% more from 1991
From the 1980s, at least 7 major and fatal resistant diseases have been found all around
the world and have not been cured.
The number and quantity of these resistant diseases have been increasing from the late
1940s until today globally.
Many common illnesses like pneumonia, meningitis, arthritis and peritonitis have been a
consequence of picking up resistant diseases.
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The best chance of living if the disease could be fatal is to introduce the antibiotics early
into the time period of the subject being sick although not all the best medical always
prevents death.
Date
2007 2008
Title
National Action Plan
(USA)
June 10,
2011
European Strategic Action
Plan on Antibiotic
Resistance.
September Antibiotic Resistance Task
29, 2015
Force
Explanation
The National Action Plan is a plan founded in the
U.S. to reduce the spread of resistant bacteria,
strengthen combat against these diseases and to
increase funding for new ways of combating these
diseases to prevent mass spreading.
A plan set forth by the World Health Organization in
Europe to reduce mortality rate resulting from
antibiotic resistant diseases by making an
international effort in bringing these diseases to the
public’s awareness and to oversee the usage of
antibiotics used in food and on people.
The Human Microbe Program works to make these
diseases reduce in quantity by educating the public
and working most efforts on new research for
antibiotics to kill these diseases. The monitoring of
antibiotic use on people and food will be heavy and
controller internationally.
Possible Solutions
1. To improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance and its causes through
mass education campaigns in LEDC and developing countries..
2. To subsidize research to find new antibiotics so that pharmaceutical companies will invest in
that research.
3. To limit patent rights so that these medications become more available in poor countries.
4. To require labeling of all agricultural products grown using antibiotics.
5. To ban the use of antibiotics in meat and dairy production except in the case of illness.
6. To ban payments to doctors by pharmaceutical companies for prescribing medications.
7. To ban the over the counter sale of antibiotics.
8. Develop the economic case for sustainable investment that takes account of the needs of all
countries, and increase investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools, vaccines and other
interventions.
Resources Section
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/antibiotic-resistance/en/
http://foodtank.com/news/2014/05/sixteen-organizations-working-to-raise-antibiotic-resistanceawareness
http://www.who.int/drugresistance/documents/en/
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/antibiotics/glossary_em.htm
http://www.who.int/drugresistance/global_action_plan/en/
http://www.who.int/drugresistance/global_action_plan/en/
http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/147734/wd14E_AntibioticResistance_1113
80.pdf?ua=1
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/national_action_plan_for_combating_antibo
tic-resistant_bacteria.pdf
http://www.wired.com/2015/09/us-finally-taking-action-antibiotic-resistance/
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