06/04/2011 Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development
Strasbourg, 07.04.2011 – On the occasion of World Health Day, whose theme this year is action to combat antimicrobial resistance, Liliane Maury Pasquier (Switzerland, SOC), the Chair of the Social, Health and Family Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), has today called on WHO to “continue its action to counter antimicrobial resistance while being as thorough and transparent as possible in its approach to the selection of experts so as to ensure that future decisions by national governments are based on advice entirely devoid of any conflict of interest”.
Antimicrobial resistance is caused by factors including the misuse of antimicrobial agents in human medicine and animal husbandry, which have contributed in recent decades to increasing levels of resistance to these medicines.
“The Parliamentary Assembly regularly acknowledges and highlights the importance of WHO’s work and its role as a central reference body in a world in which co-ordination is one of the keys to running successful health policies.
However, the Assembly will also do its duty to ensure that health policies in the Council of Europe member states are as transparent as possible and continue to address problems in this area when they arise. This commitment was highlighted again at the beginning of the year when the Assembly adopted Recommendation 1959 (2011) on preventive health care policies in the Council of Europe member states”, said Ms Maury Pasquier.
“On behalf of the Committee I chair, I would like to congratulate WHO on its choice of this very important theme for the day. I invite all the member states of the Council of Europe to take seriously and respond positively to WHO’s appeal for more commitment in this field from the international community”, she added.
Ms Maury Pasquier also referred to the Assembly’s debate in 2010 prior to the adoption of Resolution 1749 (2010) and Recommendation 1929 (2010) on the handling of the H1N1 pandemic. This debate had dwelt among other things on the potential economic benefits of the declaration of the pandemic for certain pharmaceutical groups and the risk that they may have influenced major public health decisions connected with the purchase of vaccines and medicines and with backing for research.