The British In Vitro Diagnostics Association (BIVDA) has responded to the communique published by the attendees at the G7 meeting in Cornwall, pledging to do more to tackle the problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Across the world, AMR is responsible for hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths a year and the numbers are increasing year on year by 4%, and will continue to do so as current antibiotics lose their effectiveness against new and evolving strains of bacteria.
Commenting on the announcement, BIVDA Chief Executive Doris-Ann Williams said: “We welcome this communique, and hope that the significant role diagnostics can play in reducing the use of unnecessary antibiotics is not overlooked. Antibiotics have become an essential tool for both managing and preventing infection over the last 100 years but unless we re-think our strategies to use them, then new antibiotics will still be affected by bacterial resistance. Diagnostics should be given the same focus as new drugs so we can develop tests to help direct therapeutic use and avoid the use of antibiotics where possible.”