What Will It Take to Address the Global Threat of Antibiotic Resistance?

Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics publishes series calling for global collective action to combat antibiotic resistance.

Among the many global health challenges facing the world today, antibiotic resistance is a problem that requires true global collective action. Medical evidence shows that drug-resistant diseases can spread across borders from something as simple as a traveler returning home from abroad. What kind of actions must be taken to address the threat of antibiotic resistance (ABR)? And what legal, political and economic tools are needed to achieve this level of action?

On Wednesday July 22, 2015, the Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics published a series of eleven concise articles detailing how ABR depends on global collective action, and what tools are needed to achieve it. Overseen by the University of Ottawa’s Professor Steven J. Hoffman and Boston University’s Professor Kevin Outterson, the series sought input from experts from a diverse range of academic and professional disciplines—each of whom brings a unique perspective to advancing global health.

President Obama issued an Executive Order in September 2014, creating a national action planning process to combat ABR. The articles in this new series aim to begin providing evidence-informed guidance on how governments and civil society can muster a comprehensive response to the global threat of ABR. It is a must-read for anyone interested in how the worlds of science and politics can come together in the interest of global health.

The series is available online at aslme.org. Its preparation was supported by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and ReAct – Action on Antibiotic Resistance.

Professor Kevin Outterson is available to comment on specific articles, on the series as a whole, or global health challenges more broadly. He can be reached directly by email at mko@bu.edu.

Statements from Series Editors and Partners

“The good news is that antimicrobial resistance is starting to get attention at the highest political levels. This series of research articles shows how we can achieve real progress by working together across countries and using the full range of international legal mechanisms.”
– Steven J. Hoffman, Associate Professor of Law and Director of the Global Strategy Lab, University of Ottawa

“Many in the world recognize the problem of antibiotic resistance, but no one has attempted a solution that integrates all three key objectives: global access, conservation, and real innovation. This series lays the foundation for a global architecture to address this critical problem threatening humanity. If we cannot act collectively to save antibiotics—the most important drug class on human history—then we will have failed as stewards of this great gift.”
– Kevin Outterson, Professor of Law and N. Neal Pike Scholar in Health & Disability Law, Boston University, USA

“Solving the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance needs to build on solid analyses of how governments can commit to securing sustainable access to effective antibiotics together. A cross-disciplinary collaborative effort, as witnessed by this series, is the strong platform we must build from.”
– John-Arne Røttingen, Director of Infectious Disease Control, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Norway