Safeguarding Women’s and Children’s Health, While Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance
This reception will zoom in the challenges of inequitable access to services and health tools, and how the looming threat of AMR exacerbates those challenges. It will highlight the approaches that national governments are taking, and the ways in which Unitaid and UNFPA partner with countries to accelerate progress. The two panels and interventions will describe barriers that limit access to life-saving health products for the conditions which contribute to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality for women and children, such as post-partum hemorrhage, pre-eclampsia, sepsis, congenital syphilis, pneumonia, and diarrhea. Lack of access to effective antimicrobials is a leading cause of death in LMICs, estimated to cause 5.7 million deaths per year. At the same time, overuse and misuse is a significant concern leading to resistance. The panels will describe opportunities to enhance the response through accelerated innovation and coordinated market shaping activities to increase access to and responsible use of the right products for the people who need them most. Decisive commitments and policy actions are needed to extend the effectiveness of antimicrobial drugs, ensuring their availability for future generations and protect the hard-won global gains.