As part of an ongoing commitment to preventing antibiotic resistance, NACDS and the NACDS Foundation participated in the White House Forum on Antibiotic Stewardship this week.
We are near a tipping point with antibiotic resistance.
The forum focused on strategies to implement changes over the next five years to slow the emergence of resistant bacteria and prevent the spread of resistant infections.
In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal this week, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Tom Frieden, who delivered the keynote address at the forum, wrote, “We are near a tipping point with antibiotic resistance. An increasing proportion of bacteria no longer respond to the drugs designed to kill them. We can either work to improve antibiotic use and prevent infections, or watch as the clock turns back to a world where simple infections kill people.”
The event—comprised of more than 150 food companies, retailers, and human and animal health stakeholders—builds on a number of steps the administration has taken to combat antibiotic resistance. The CDC estimates that drug-resistant bacteria cause two million illnesses and about 23,000 deaths each year in the United States alone.
The White House is calling on the public and private sectors to collaborate to improve responsible antibiotic animal health and human health stewardship. Discussions in the human health stewardship sessions centered on improving inpatient and outpatient prescribing, and developing new tools for stewardship, including better therapies and better diagnostics.
NACDS is committed to working with the CDC and other stakeholders to develop the framework for community antibiotic stewardship programs, including education on antibiotic recommendations and guidelines for initiatives to improve the appropriate use antibiotics.
