Toespraak van minister Schippers tijdens de opening van de Europese ministeriële conferentie over antibioticaresistentie

Toespraak | 10-02-2016

Ladies and gentlemen, excellencies,

Welcome to our capital Amsterdam. I hope you have enjoyed your stay so far. I truly appreciate the fact that you took the effort of joining us. Especially because I know how busy your schedules are. And that blocking a whole day abroad is not done easily.

I am especially delighted to see both ministers and delegates of Health, as well as ministers and delegates of Agriculture. Your presence reflects the need for a One Health Approach on Antimicrobial resistance and is unique in the history of the European Union.

Also a warm welcome to the EU Commissioner for Health, Dr Andriukaitis and to Ms Semedo from the FAO. And a special welcome to Dr. Chan, whose presence is wanted all over the world today, due to the quick spread of the Zika-virus.

Ladies and gentlemen, outbreaks like Zika rightfully demand our immediate attention. As did Ebola, 2 years ago. These are acute outbreaks, which take a visible toll and demand immediate response.

And on the other hand there is the threat of antimicrobial resistance. Evolving slowly, but progressively. Not so visible. Yet silently killing more than 25.000 European citizens each year. No headlines. Nevertheless terribly urgent. Nevertheless calling for swift action.

Now, worldwide and at the European level, a lot has been said and is done on antibiotic resistance.

And this… [pallet truck filled with paperwork] is what we achieved. We collected this in a couple of hours - in a paperless office - only on AMR. We adopted a Global Action Plan. Which was a joint achievement. From the World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health. We have achieved many agreements on good intentions.

Two EU Council recommendations, several Council conclusions, a European Action Plan, European Commission Guidelines, European Parliament Resolutions. Several reports on economic impact, a strategic research agenda…

In the meantime, we still see resistance levels in Europe rising.

In the meantime, we still see the use of antibiotics in Europe rising. Mr Andriukaitis will elaborate on the current situation in Europe later.

In the meantime, Ladies and gentlemen, antimicrobial resistance is slowly undermining our healthcare.

Even in countries where resistance rates are relatively low, like in the Netherlands, the consequences of antibiotic resistance sneak up on us.

• A child starting out with just a scratch, ended up in hospital for the duration of two weeks, because the wound got infected with a resistant bacteria.
• Some of our best doctors and nurses are forced to stay at home because they carry resistant bacteria.
• An intern had to quit medical school and change career because he could not get rid of a multi-resistant Staph bacteria.
• A patient got infected with resistant tuberculosis abroad.

He has to stay in quarantine in a remote clinic for weeks, maybe months, away from friends and family. No headlines... But the impact on people’s lives is huge.

Ladies and gentlemen, we must prevent the scenario in which we meet again in ten years time, admitting to each other that we failed.

Admitting to each other that in spite of all our plans and good intentions, in spite of all our paperwork, we kept on squandering antibiotics. That we tried, but got too distracted. By other urgent, more visible problems. By the headlines. That we thereby lost one of the most precious medicines mankind ever had. Throwing us back in time.

Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn't have to be that way! We can change the course of history. If we make antibiotic resistance our common priority now.

Of course I know that some of you worry about subsidiarity. I can assure you: I'm as critical as many of you on this matter. But this does not mean that we cannot collaborate. AMR is a cross border health threat, whether we like it or not.

I am convinced that there is room for stronger cooperation within the current competencies. Because the fight against antimicrobial resistance is not about competencies. It is about political will. Political will to take real action. 

• Infection prevention and prudent use of antibiotics, both in healthcare and agriculture.
• New antibiotics and alternatives for antibiotics.
• And new, quick and affordable diagnostic instruments.

So let us move from words to deeds. From paper to practice. From the drawing table to implementation. 

Antibiotic resistance is one of the top priorities during the Dutch presidency of the European Union this half year. Your attendance today shows your commitment on this topic. Commitment not to fail. Commitment to act.

Many of you are already making a real effort on a national level.

The examples are numerous, as you were able to read in our conference-newspaper, the AMR Next. So let us learn from each other. And more. Let us show the political courage to confront each other if there is not enough progress.

I invite you to engage in a very lively discussion, later on.

It is based on a filmed scenario and will hopefully set the scene for future action of us all.

But first I would like to give the floor to my ally in our Dutch One Health approach on antibiotic resistance: my dear colleague, the minister for agriculture, Martijn van Dam.