Standing Committee on Health

Comité permanent de la santé

For immediate release

Ottawa, May 1^st, 2018 -

Bill Casey, Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health, presented the Committee’s sixteenth report today entitled A Study on the Status of Antimicrobial Resistance in Canada and Related Recommendations. In presenting the report to the House of Commons, Committee Chair Bill Casey stressed that “antimicrobial resistance is a global health emergency, and Canada needs to demonstrate leadership to ensure the gains of modern medicine are not dramatically eroded.”

The Committee’s report examines current efforts across Canada and globally to address antimicrobial resistance, drawing on expert testimony from government officials, academics, international organizations and stakeholders in the fields of both human and animal health.

Over the course of six meetings held between June and November 2017, the Committee heard that work is already well underway in the public and private sectors to address antimicrobial resistance both in Canada and abroad. Witnesses explained that in Canada many of these activities are being coordinated through two main strategic plans: Antimicrobial Resistance and Use in Canada: A Federal Framework for Action and Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use: A Pan-Canadian Framework for Action. However, though progress has been made, witnesses identified the need for improved surveillance and data, stewardship, and more funding for research and innovation. Most of all, they called for greater federal leadership to promote collaboration and co-ordination to address this rising public health threat.

In response to these concerns, the Committee’s report recommends that the Public Health Agency of Canada appoint a federal advisor to be a national champion for combatting antimicrobial resistance across Canada. It also calls on the Government of Canada to accelerate the development of its Pan-Canadian Action Plan to support the implementation of the Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use: A Pan-Canadian Framework for Action.

The Committee believes that these recommendations, coupled with the other critical actions identified in the report, are necessary to ensure that the current momentum to address antimicrobial resistance in Canada and abroad is not lost.