n international panel of health experts agreed on priority actions to safeguard the future of antibiotics at the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) – Qatar Foundation’s global healthcare.

Speakers at the panel included Dame Sally Davies, UK AMR special envoy;  Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director (EMRO); H.E. Dr. Karin Tegmark Wisell, Ambassador of Global Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden; Dr Christos Christou, International President, Médecins Sans Frontières; and Dr Nour Shamas, Clinical Pharmacist and WHO Task force AMR survivor. Lord Ara Darzi, WISH executive chair, held a fireside chat before the panel.

Lord Darzi said: “It's quite clear, looking at all the evidence, you will never be able to fix the problem of resistance purely through science.”

The panel members agreed antimicrobial resistance must be recognized as a global, multisectoral, intergenerational scientific and behavioral emergency, as per a new report, ‘Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance: How to Keep Antibiotics Working for the Next Century’, released just ahead of the summit.  Keeping antibiotics must be a priority for action among human health system leaders, as well as animal health, environment, food security and economic chiefs. Without antibiotics, modern medicine will cease to exist as we know it, the authors said.

The panel provided recommendations, exploring opportunities for further action in global citizen engagement, translational science, and policy and regulation.

Dame Sally Davies commented on the benefit of reframing the challenge of AMR as not about winning a war, but about not losing it: “The question is: how do we save lives and live with bacteria? Where we need to be, rich countries in particular, is in balance with what's available, to protect people. We haven't got there yet, and we've got a fair way to go. But I'm optimistic.”

This year, WISH was opened on 13 November in the presence of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation and founder of WISH. The opening ceremony, held at Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, included speeches from Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Qatar’s former Minister of Public Health; Lord Darzi of Denham, Executive Chair of WISH; and Christos Christou, President of Médecins Sans Frontières. 

The theme of WISH 2024 is ‘Humanizing Health: Conflict, Equity and Resilience’. It aims to highlight the need for innovation in health to support everyone, leaving nobody behind and building resilience, especially among vulnerable societies and in areas of armed conflict.

Ahead of the summit, WISH entered into a strategic partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), collaborating on the development of a series of evidence-based reports and policy papers, as well as working with the United Nations’ health agency to develop a post-summit implementation strategy. 

The summit features more than 200 experts in health speaking about evidence-based ideas and practices in healthcare innovation to address the world’s most urgent global health challenges.