“Malta continues to recognize the need for decisive and rapid action to address the urgent global threat to public health of AMR”, stressed the Minister for Health and Active Aging, Jo Etienne Abela, in New York, during a High-Level Meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
Minister Jo Etienne Abela made an intervention on behalf of Malta during the Plenary of this United Nations meeting, where the progress on global, regional and national efforts on antimicrobial resistance is being reviewed. (AMR). Minister Abela emphasized the importance of together maintaining the political momentum gained in the last months during this process and to ensure that this is translated into evidence-based action in each of the partner countries.
Minister Abela stressed that Malta recognizes that sustainable, efficient and responsible governance structures at local, national, regional and global levels are critical for an effective, coordinated and inclusive response through the ‘One Health’ approach. Minister Jo Etienne Abela also stressed the importance of the United Nations continuing to determine the way forward towards achieving universal health in this regard, in order to address antimicrobial resistance in the sector of -health and beyond, to protect more lives.
“Although progress has been made in the development and implementation of multisectoral action plans on antimicrobial resistance, additional financial and technical support is needed to strengthen capacity in each country”, said Minister Abela. Minister Abela expressed satisfaction and welcomed the Political Declaration that was agreed during the day of Thursday, where the Maltese team in New York, led by the Permanent Representative of Malta to the United Nations, Vanessa Frazier, worked much on it during the last months.
He thanked them for the important work they carried out where they were responsible for the co-facilitation of this process together with the Ambassador from Barbados, François Jackman, which led to this agreement which should provide an important step in the global efforts to address this threat. Minister Jo Etienne Abela concluded by saying that this political declaration should be used as a baseline to continue pushing the ambitions to address AMR, especially in the preparation for the next High Level Meeting.
