Toespraak van minister Schippers bij het het 3rd International One Health Congress

Toespraak | 15-03-2015

Speech Edith Schippers, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport. One Health Congres, 15 March 2015, Amsterdam

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Black Death is back! In Madagascar.

You know all about it, but most people - outside your field - thought it was something that only occurred in the Middle Ages. That it was a far-flung event.

There is the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa, MERS, Bird flu. Not only in Hong Kong and China. Even today in the Netherlands. In Barneveld. A poultry intensive area, some 50 kilometres from here.

Most of us thought bird flu was mastered. Unfortunately, it is becoming a regular. And it has a dramatic impact on farms. And especially on people’s personal lives. Since most of the farms are family run. Passed on from generation to generation.

Something we have also experienced during the outbreak of Q-Fever in The Netherlands. Thousands of people in the south east were infected. 25 people died. The bacterium that caused it was found in dairy goats. But not all of the people that were infected, had been near the animals. It turned out the bacterium spread through the air.

We thought we were prepared for these kind of outbreaks. Since, we were prepared to help people. We were prepared to help animals. We had procedures, protocols, scripts, the works. Both in health care and in the veterinary world. Yet, we found out - the hard way - that Q-fever can only be mastered when both worlds cooperate very closely. And that turned out to be our blind spot.

Ladies and Gentlemen, with the experiences with Q-fever we have changed our tactics. Every month doctors, veterinarians, and other experts are meeting for early recognition and control of zoonoses with public health as their top priority. It works. Experts know when and how to find eachother. They have dealt with for example Schmallenberg and have even monitored an outbreak of flu amongst seals.

Ladies and gentlemen,

You are experts in the field and you know my list of examples of infectious diseases is far from complete. You know that over 70 percent of new infectious diseases find their source in animals. And you don’t need me to tell you that bacteria are becoming resistant either. Nor that ecology is an important factor. As is demography. And that there is still a lot to investigate.

We all know the importance of preventing diseases and the prudent use of antibiotics in our healthcare facilities ánd in our veterinarian sector. About the effect of simple hygienic measures in homes and kitchens. We know about prudent and restrained use. And about the dramatic business case for new antibiotics. So the question is: what are we going to do about it? What are you going to do about it?

Antibiotic resistance will be my top priority when The Netherlands will chair the meetings of the Council of the European Union, at the start of 2016.

The World Health Organization is working on a Global Action Plan that will be adopted in May during the World Health Assembly. We also work together on the Global Health Security Agenda, initiated by the United States. Zoonoses and antibiotic resistance are two of the eleven packages that make up the agenda. The Netherlands is leading country in the field of antibiotic resistance, together with the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Canada and India.

The challenge will be to translate these agenda’s in actual policy. And in deeds! The question is: how do we go from paper to action? I hope these coming days you will be inspired to help turning policy and idea's into action. And together we also have to make sure we don’t develop a new blind spot. Because no matter how much research data we gather. No matter how many scripts or protocols we write to deal with outbreaks. We won’t succeed if we don’t increase public awareness.

In my country a recent poll shows that only a third of the respondents knows what antibiotic resistance is. 34 percent, sort of knows, and twenty percent does not know. Nearly twenty five percent thinks it is a small problem. So, if we really want to make a change, everyone- and really everyone -needs to understand the urgency. Our parents, our neighbours, our friends, students, doctors, nurses, farmers: everyone!

But how are we going to do that? How can we make sure people know what is going on. And make them act accordingly. That in itself is a enormous challenge.

I need your help. This is the reason you made acquaintance with Luke and Lucy in my presentation. They are well-known comic book characters in Flanders in Belgium and in the Netherlands. Read by children ánd their parents. This one is about antibiotic resistance. The purpose is to make the message easy to understand.

Also, we asked Daphne Dekkers - former topmodel, tv hostess, writer, actrice and mother of two teenagers- to tell her personal story. She became seriously ill from a bladder infection. Six different antibiotics didn’t work. Luckily, number seven did! She shared her personal experiences during our international conference on antibiotic resistance, last year in The Hague. Her powerful presentation and her powerful personal story gained national attention!

And that is what this topic needs: national attention.

You get it through familiar faces! It needs people that can tell their stories about their experience with antibiotic resistance. The fear they felt, the uncertainty, the shock that the medicine they trust did not work. And of course these are not examples to just translate one on one around the globe. Every country has its own familiar faces that can tell their personal stories and their personal experiences with antibiotic resistance. No politician, nor any scientist bring the message in a way a patient can.

Ladies and gentlemen,

You know what’s going on. And you know we need a common approach in fighting infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. That is why you are all here the coming days. You know how important it is to strengthen collaboration between universities, between faculties, between the veterinarian and health sector. That is why the National Centre for One Health is such a great initiative.

You know how important it is to truly work together. And that we need everyone. So let’s include everyone. Come up with your own creative ideas, your own icons to tell the story. As a source of inspiration you will all receive a copy of Luke and Lucy.

So please: let’s spread the word! And come up with a lot of new ideas that can turn policy into action.

Thank you!

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Link: http://issuu.com/wpgbe/docs/auntie_biotica