8 February 2018 – On 4 February 2018, the World Health Organization organized a One Health consultative workshop together with Ministry of Health and Libya's National Center for Disease Control on the development of a national action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) for Libya.
The workshop, conducted in Tunis, aimed to:
- establish a multisectoral national steering committee for AMR
- identify concepts, causes, challenges and responses to antimicrobial resistance at global and regional level
- review and analyse Libya's national antimicrobial resistance situation
- draft accordingly and a comprehensive antimicrobial resistance National Action Plan that addresses priority gaps and needs.
The workshop was facilitated by WHO staff from the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and headquarters, 25 participants from different sectors – human health, agriculture and animal health, Food and Drug Control Center, General Syndicate of Pharmacists, representative from several large hospitals and other United Nations agencies and the International Organization for Migration.
“Antimicrobial resistance threatens the very core of modern medicine and the sustainability of effective treatment. Antimicrobial resistance is a crisis that must be managed with the utmost urgency. If we fail to globally to address this problem it could result in 10 million deaths in 2050. Antimicrobial resistance also has a very real economic cost, between now and 2050 representing US$ 100 trillion if we do not act,” said Dr Jaffar Hussain, WHO Representative for Libya.