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PRESS RELEASE (FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)

Anti-Microbial Resistance + Africa + Diagnostics

Global leaders converge from across Africa to counter AMR and to help the global fight

29 January 2018 | Cape Town | The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and the

Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) today convene a landmark summit of key regional

stakeholders and international experts on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and diagnostics: AMR + Africa +

Diagnostics. During the event, a significant Memorandum of Understanding will be signed between the

two organizations, pledging a commitment to identify collaborative opportunities for joint research,

development, manufacturing, introduction and scale-up of innovative health technologies and

programmes that result in the reduction of mortality and morbidity due to AMR and tuberculosis (TB).

Every year, 700,000 people are killed from drug-resistant strains of common bacterial infections or AMR.

Data on the true extent of the problem is missing around the world, but especially in Africa and South East

Asia.

The inappropriate use of antibiotics and other medicines is fuelling the emergence of AMR globally, and is

reducing the effectiveness of the few therapeutic options available to treat and respond to severe bacterial

illnesses. Health systems under strain require interventions and innovations that are sustainable,

affordable and which can be taken to scale. It is estimated that by 2050, AMR will cause 10 million deaths

per year, with an estimated loss of over 100 trillion USD in economic output. The World Bank expects the

economic and human impact to disproportionately affect low- and middle-income countries.1

Any meaningful action on AMR must focus on initiatives that are relevant to low-resource settings.

Convening AMR + Africa + Diagnostics in Africa reflects this imperative and provides an opportunity to

bring to the table regional experts, including those with deeply relevant experience working in TB and HIV.

1 Adeyi, Olusoji O.; Baris, Enis; Jonas, Olga B.; Irwin, Alec; Berthe, Franck Cesar Jean; Le Gall, Francois G.; Marquez, Patricio V.; Nikolic, Irina Aleksandra; Plante, Caroline Aurelie; Schneidman, Miriam; Shriber, Donald Edward; Thiebaud, Alessia. 2017. Drug-resistant infections: a threat to our economic future (Vol. 2) : final report (English). Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/323311493396993758/final-report

Khayelitsha, Cape Town, where the summit is taking place, has been home to important initiatives in

South Africa’s public health history. The first South African public sector programme started here, to

provide antiretroviral therapy for HIV at primary care levels, as did one of the country’s first pilot projects

to provide decentralized care for drug-resistant TB.2

External factors like water scarcity and the ongoing drought in Cape Town also exacerbate AMR. When

people cannot wash regularly with soap and water, it can lead to the spread of resistant pathogens –

usually more common in places where infrastructure challenges exist. The people who understand these

challenges must be part of the solution.

“Being acquainted with the scale of antimicrobial resistance informs our response strategies to counter

the impact of AMR in the provision of present and future healthcare”, said Professor Glenda Gray,

President & CEO of the SAMRC. “This stakeholder summit is centred on resolve.”

AMR + Africa + Diagnostics – the first meeting of its kind to put diagnostics at the centre of the critical

issue of AMR – coincides with the Prince Mahidol Award Conference currently taking place in Bangkok,

Thailand, where global leaders are discussing strategies to protect the world from the threats of emerging

infectious disease. It serves as a timely reminder that diagnostics are a critical component in the fight

against AMR, and that the world has much to learn from Africa in this respect. The summit hopes that

sharing lessons learned in Khayelitsha and throughout Africa – on how to get people at every level to get

tested and get treated on HIV, TB and other diseases including STIs, sepsis and beyond – can help

experts at the Bangkok meeting to strengthen the global response to AMR.

“Africa has been at the forefront of the fight against other infectious diseases like HIV and TB, both in

terms of testing and treatment, so we need build this into the fight against AMR in the region and around

the world. Diagnostics can help contain the spread of AMR – with African leadership, health experts, and

civil society organisations committed to working on this issue together, we must turn talk into action,” said

Dr Catharina Boehme, CEO of FIND.

Presentations and discussions at the summit will:

§ Highlight the critical role of diagnostics to address AMR globally.

§ Identify lessons learned from HIV/TB and draw on the importance of experiences in Africa that can

be applied across different disease areas and around the world.

§ Review current diagnostic innovations already making an impact in AMR and identify what is still

urgently needed. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 https://www.msf.org.za/stories-news/press-releases/celebrating-10-years-hiv-care-khayelitsha-and-addressing-new-challenges

About FIND: FIND was established in 2003 as a global non-profit dedicated to accelerating the development, evaluation and delivery of high-quality, affordable diagnostic tests for poverty-related diseases, now including malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, sleeping sickness, hepatitis C, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, Buruli ulcer, non-malarial fever and diseases with outbreak potential, such as Ebola. FIND has partnered in the delivery of 20 new diagnostic tools and created an enabling environment for numerous others through the provision of specimen banks, reagent development and better market visibility. FIND also supports better access to new diagnostics through implementation, quality assurance and lab strengthening work. FIND has nearly 200 partners globally, including research institutes and laboratories, health ministries and national disease control programmes, commercial partners, bilateral and multilateral organizations, especially WHO, and clinical trial sites. For further information, please visit www.finddx.org About the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC): The scope of the SAMRC’s research includes basic laboratory investigations, clinical research and public health studies. Research at the SAMRC focuses on the following top 10 causes (www.samrc.ac.za ) of death in South Africa. To assist with delivering on this vital mandate, the organisation is led by the National Department of Health, and works with other key stakeholders such as the Department of Science and Technology, South African and international science councils, medical schools, universities, research institutions and international collaborators. Media Relations: Sarah-Jane Loveday Aziel Gangerdine Head of Communications Head: Corporate & Marketing Communications Communications South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) FIND | Campus Biotech | Chemin des Mines 9 Francie van Zijl 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Cape Town Email: Sarah-Jane.Loveday@finddx.org Email: aziel.gangerdine@mrc.ac.za M: + 41 79 431 62 44 M: + 27 71 866 9887

ENDS.

- QUOTES PROVIDED ON AMR + AFRICA + DIAGNOSTICS, FOR MEETING –

AMR + Africa + Diagnostics. How can we work together to stem the tide of antimicrobial resistance? Regional stakeholders’ summit: Khayelitsha, Cape Town, RSA, 30 JaNn 2018

FRANCIS AMOAGYE-NYAME, Program Director, Systems for Improved Access to Pharmaceuticals and Services (SIAPS) “Inappropriate use of diagnostics can lead to incorrect/irrational use of medications leading not only to poor health outcomes but also the likely development of antimicrobial resistance resulting in unnecessary escalation of treatment length and costs. Patients and providers need to be educated on the role diagnostics play in effective treatment, preservation of treatment and cost containment. Capacity of prescribers and technicians need to be built to optimize use of diagnostics to support efforts to contain the development of AMR.” VANESSA CARTER, AMR e-patient activist and founder of Health Care Social Media South Africa (#hmcsSA) “I chose to become a patient voice after suffering from an extensive MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) infection that nearly cost me my face. I chose to advocate for others because I was a concerned citizen. I had never heard of this superbug before, but as I became more informed, I learned that meant the bacteria causing infection in my face had become resistant to the antibiotics that were meant to heal me. We have been oblivious to the microbial world that we live together with – a hidden, microscopic world that has been evolving for billions of years before us. My hopes from events like this one is that we learn to treat antibiotics and other antimicrobial medications as the precious resource they are. World health leaders have described antibiotic resistant microorganisms as nightmare bacteria that pose a catastrophic threat to people in every country in the world, and South Africa is not exempt. We need to learn to use antibiotics wisely.” Watch Vanessa’s story: https://youtu.be/1KyYQfKHLkI

Find out more about her here: http://vanessacarter.co.za/antibiotic-resistance/ GARY COHEN, EVP and President, Global Health, BD (Becton Dickinson & Company) “It is encouraging to see the private sector being brought into the conversation about how AMR can be controlled through better diagnosis. For-profit companies, working together with non-profits and governments, can play a huge role in bringing to market desperately needed tools – from tests that identify causes of fever to those that hone in on drug resistant strains of tuberculosis. We also have a shared interest in collaborating in implementation efforts, including strengthening laboratory capacity at national levels. This meeting is an important opportunity to advance the dialogue with all stakeholders.” THOMAS CUENI, Director-General, IFPMA; Chair, AMR Industry Alliance “We need the integrated deployment of vaccines and medicines, diagnostics, antibiotics and other therapies to address the multiple challenges across the continuum of care. Diagnostics play an invaluable role in fighting antimicrobial resistance. They guide the effective use of antibiotics by identifying the infectious agent, as well as any potential resistance to antibiotics, in order to help clinicians prescribe the most appropriate treatment with the shortest time delay.” Professor Dame SALLY DAVIES, UK Chief Medical Officer, IACG on AMR co-convener “This is a global problem requiring multiple solutions – and accessible, accurate, and affordable diagnostics play a vital role in protecting our antibiotics and for surveillance in humans, animals, and the environment. I am pleased that organisations such as FIND are not only focusing on developing new diagnostics but also implementing existing ones in all parts of the world. Global leaders have recognised the importance of addressing antimicrobial resistance – but now it is time to act.” Professor KEERTAN DHEDA, ProfessorofMedicine,Head:DivisionofPulmonology,UniversityofCapeTown “Current treatment for drug-resistant TB is often a gamble – a shot in the dark – because we don’t have quick and easy access to diagnostic readouts that can tell us how best to efficiently kill the TB bug; the consequences of getting it wrong, which is often the case, is amplification of resistance and encouraging the vicious the ‘monster' we call XDR-TB, with dire consequences for many vulnerable patients. Thus, multiplex rapid diagnostic readouts for TB are urgently needed. The future calls for readouts that will predict drug resistance before it causes clinical disease.” Dr. LUCICA DITIU, Executive Director, Stop TB Partnership “Every single hour, in the world, 80 people die because of drug resistant forms of infectious diseases and 22 of them die because of drug resistant TB. If we want to save these lives and avoid all the financial impact that AMR represents for countries economy, we should bring real action and disrupting partners and ideas in this space. At Stop TB, we are pushing through our different teams, country programmes and partners, including FIND – new tools, new diagnostics, new regimens and new innovations in service delivery as well as engagement of new private sector partners and civil society and communities. South Africa Ministry of Health through the TB programme and the SA Medical Research Council and all their partners are always at the forefront of research and roll out of new tools, so the world can follow their example.” Dr. FAROUK JEGA, Senior Country Director Nigeria, Pathfinder “The problem of antimicrobial resistance is a huge quality of care impediment, and can often make the difference between life and death especially for TB patients. Without access to high quality diagnostics, multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB is often diagnosed late when much harm has already been done and leads to death or serious disability.”

Dr. ERIC GOEMAERE, Regional HIV/TB Technical Support Coordinator, MSF “Antibioticresistancehasemergedasaglobalhealthcrisisandweneedtopromoteantimicrobialstewardshipinnovationstohelpstopthetrend,otherwiseweareonacoursetowardsapost-antibioticera.” MAH-SÉRÉ KEITA, Director of Global Health Security, African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) “WehaveauniqueopportunitytoplanaheadforaknownpublichealththreatcalledAMR,butAfricastilllagsbehind.Wemustmovequicklyandstrategizewiselybecauseresourcesarelimitedbutcapacitydoesexistonthecontinent.Thiscapacityneedstobeaugmentedandwellharnessedtoservethewholeofthecontinent.” MARK KESSEL, Chairman of the FIND Board of Directors “Drug-resistant infections are presently causing 700,000 deaths worldwide. Doctors often prescribe drugs based on symptomatic diagnosis, trial and error, or simply because patients demand them. When misdiagnosed, resistance blossoms and the benefit of antibiotics are eroded. Diagnostics are desperately needed to ensure correct identification and treatment of disease – which patients deserve – and to safeguard our remaining precious medical resources.” ZIBUSISONDLOVU,LaboratoryAdvisor,SouthernAfricaMedicalUnit,MSF“Weneedbetterdiagnosticstohelpthemedicalcommunitytopreservetheutilityofthesepreciousdrugs,becauseittakessomuchtimeandresourcesjusttodiscoveranew,safeandeffectiveantibiotic.” Lord JIM O’NEILL, Chair of the UK-commissioned Review on Antimicrobial Resistance “Diagnosis is an essential weapon in our fight against AMR. It is shocking that the way in which we make prescribing decisions today hasn’t fundamentally changed since the 1950s. There are many reasons for this, including a lack of good and rapid tests to confirm the judgement of the doctor, and the cost of such tests exceeding the price of the drugs, leading to “just in case” prescribing. Without bold steps being taken, it is unlikely that rapid progress can be made to reduce the scale of inappropriate use, and limit the rapid emergence of resistance to our available drugs.” Dr. MIRFIN MPUNDU, Head of ReAct Africa “The development and affordable access to diagnostics suitable for use and improved laboratory capacity in LMICs is a top priority in addressing AMR. Access to diagnostics, especially rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs), will aid treatment and reduce unnecessary use of antibiotics. Immediate investment in diagnostics and countries providing enabling environments through supporting policies and legal frameworks will also be needed.” Dr. SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, Deputy Director-General (Programmes), World Health Organization “Diagnostics are at the heart of the fight against AMR. Countries need affordable, accessible tests that can guide treatment for diseases like drug resistant TB or that can determine if childhood fevers are cause by bacterial agents and therefore merit use of antibiotics. We need more research and investment to develop these tools, and need to make sure they are linked to robust surveillance systems that cut across national borders.” Dr. JAY VARMA, SeniorAdvisor,AfricaCDC“AntibioticresistanceisanurgentthreattothehealthofAfricans.AfricaCDCiscommittedtoworkingwithgovernmentsandallpublicandprivatepartnerstomakesurepatientsarediagnosedcorrectlyandtreatedeffectively.”ENDS