Damiano de Felice to speak at Prince Mahidol Award Conference 2018

Damiano de Felice will join a parallel session at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference 2018 to discuss approaches for conserving antimicrobials in the era of AMR. Damiano will also address the Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG) to present the findings of the first Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark that maps pharmaceutical company efforts to address AMR.

PMAC is an annual international conference focusing on policy-related public health issues of global significance. The conference is hosted by the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, the Royal Thai Government and other global partners, for example, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Rockefeller Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Health Organization and the World Bank. PMAC is well regarded for the high level of participation by representatives from low- and middle-income countries. The theme of this year’s event is “Making the World Safe from the Threats of Emerging Infectious Diseases”.

As part of the official PMAC programme, Damiano will speak at a session titled: “Safeguarding Medicines in the Era of AMR: What Do We Know? What Works?”. The session, which will take place on Thursday 1 February at 2:30 PM Bangkok time, will cover the links between medicines quality and AMR, environmental impacts of antibiotic manufacturing on AMR as well as efforts in strengthening systems that monitor antimicrobial use and resistance. Damiano will present findings from the Foundation’s newly published Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark.

In addition to the official PMAC programme, the ad hoc Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG) will hold its 5th meeting on Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 January on the site of the conference. Damiano has been invited to present the findings of the first Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark to the whole IACG on Tuesday morning. Moreover, he will speak at an open session organised by the IACG with stakeholders, especially civil society organizations. The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, will officially open the session.