European Health Forum Gastein 2023
At the European Health Forum Gastein 2023, decision-makers, experts, and community members from the public and private sector, civil society, and science and academia came together to explore how crises can help catalyse the development of new approaches to health system problems. Held from the 26th to the 29th of September, the theme of the 2023 conference was “Health systems in crisis: Countering shockwaves and fatigue.”
Director of the Global Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Research and Development (R&D) Hub Secretariat, Dr Lesley Ogilvie, moderated a session titled “Race against resistance: encouraging action and accountability for AMR” which featured the following speakers and panellists:
- Christopher Fearne, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Health, Malta
- Anca Toma, Executive Director, European Patients’ Forum
- Damiet Onderstal, Policy Officer, European Commission, Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (DG HERA)
- Pol Vandenbroucke, Head of Global Government Affairs, Shionogi Europe
- Kevin Outterson, Executive Director of Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X)
The race against AMR is both a sprint and a marathon. Current predictions show that if no action is taken by 2050 we would enter a post-antibiotic era in which resistant infections could become the leading cause of death world-wide, with disastrous health and economic consequences for future generations. This session explored the critical steps needed to bridge the gap between political commitment and action in addressing this global health threat. Drawing from global, regional and national best practices, the session provided insights into priority actions that could reduce the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria, while supporting a strong and sustainable AMR R&D ecosystem.
The conference session page and video recording can be found here. The conference outcomes can be found here, the conference evaluation report can be found here, and the list of speakers as well as the full conference programme details can be found here. The video recordings of all sessions can be found at the European Health Forum Gastein YouTube Channel.
