On Monday 15th June, ICARS provided feedback to the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action against Antimicrobial Resistance. ICARS is now publishing the sent text to the panel in its entirety.
ICARS welcomed the public consultation on the draft terms of reference of the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action against Antimicrobial Resistance. The objective of the public consultation was to obtain feedback and refine the terms of reference before finalization. ICARS is now sharing the submitted comments that were as follows:
The International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Feedback on the
Independent Panel on Evidence for Action against Antimicrobial Resistance
The International Centre for AMR Solutions (ICARS) appreciates the opportunity to provide feedback to the Draft Terms of Reference of the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action Against Antimicrobial Resistance. The panel will be of great importance to the national and international community providing very much needed recommendations based on evidence analysis. We strongly support and wait for this panel to be active.
With this in mind, it is crucial that the panel maintains its independence from existing UN entities and any political influence. An independent secretariat can provide support when choosing panel members, supporting the panel’s activities as well as additional efforts by the working groups.
Additional feedback includes:
- The mandate of the panel is proposed to be reviewed every five years: we believe that the panel will benefit from a shorter duration (after 2 years for instance) and the review should be conducted by an independent entity.
- The type of evidence analysed: It would be important for the panel not to limit itself to evidence that is only published in scientific journals especially evidence from low- and middle- income countries, where such evidence is mostly unpublished and at times only available with local policy makers and stakeholders. In addition, the private sector holds a large number of unpublished evidence of great relevance to the AMR community (especially in LMICs) and we strongly encourage the panel to have engagement with both public and private sectors for a complete picture of the different activities
- It would be of great importance to have clarity about how recommendations from the independent panel will feed into the AMR global governance, the Global Leaders Group, how it will influence the work of the tripartite and other national and international organisations.
We strongly support the set-up of the independent panel and the efforts of the tripartite in tackling AMR.