U.S. Challenge to World to Intensify Global Fight against Antibiotic Resistance a Success—Actions Must Continue

What:

During the United Nations General Assembly, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar will celebrate and showcase the yearlong unprecedented global initiative led by HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: The AMR Challenge.

CDC has collected nearly 350 commitments from across 32 countries to escalate government, civil society, and private industry efforts to save lives from antibiotic resistance—one of the world’s greatest public health threats—by improving use of and access to current antibiotics; improving infection prevention and control; reducing antibiotic resistance in the environment, like water and soil; developing new vaccines and drugs; and sharing data to help scientists stay ahead of antibiotic-resistant germs.

The event is co-hosted by CDC and HHS, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, American Society for Microbiology, Antimicrobial Resistance Fighter Coalition, and the CDC Foundation.

For RSVPs, Media should contact Candice Hoffman at 404-639-7689.

Why:

We must work together to combat this urgent threat or witness the outcome of a growing global catastrophe. Antibiotic resistance has been found in every region of the world. The success of The AMR Challenge shows what success is possible if global action and coordination are taken now.

 Who:

• Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Robert Redfield, M.D., CDC Director
• Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of the World Health Organization South-East Asia Region
• Juan Pablo Uribe Restrepo, Colombian Minister of Health and Social Protection
• Madlen Davies (emcee), journalist

When:

Monday, Sept. 23, at 6 p.m. ET

Where:

Cipriani
110 E 42nd St
New York, NY

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

CDC works 24/7 protecting America’s health, safety and security. Whether disease start at home or abroad, are curable or preventable, chronic or acute, or from human activity or deliberate attack, CDC responds to America’s most pressing health threats. CDC is headquartered in Atlanta and has experts located throughout the United States and the world.