Published 07/02/2017

We are delighted to announce that The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics has won a prestigious award.

The Alliance, of which we are a founding member alongside the Soil Association and Sustain, came second for the EU Health Award; Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance, at an award ceremony hosted by the University of Leuven in Belgium yesterday.

The award

The NGOs Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance Award recognises outstanding initiatives by NGOs to reduce the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to human health.

Vytenis Andriukaitis, the Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, presented the award and our Director of Campaigns, Emma Slawinski collected it on behalf of The Alliance. She said:

‘‘We are all so pleased. Gaining second place is such an achievement, especially when a very large field was entered, with other shortlisted organisation’s initiatives from across the entire EU.

“The overuse of antibiotics in farming threatens to reverse decades of medical advancement. The Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics is campaigning for an EU-wide strategy to be developed which will be effective in reducing the overuse of antibiotics in farming before it is too late.

“The recognition is of course fantastic, however, more importantly, the monetary prize will allow us to continue this important work.’’

First prize was awarded to BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation and third prize to the World Alliance Against Antibiotic Resistance.

The Bigger Picture

Around 40% of all antibiotics are given to farm animals – most for mass medicating intensive pigs and poultry. If antibiotics stop working, everyday infections will become untreatable and potentially fatal. Worryingly the overuse of antibiotics in farming is contributing to deadly drug resistance - a crisis predicted to kill one person every 10 seconds by 2050. Furthermore, it is predicted that by 2050, antibiotic resistant infections will be a bigger killer than cancer.

The Alliance to Save our Antibiotics

The Alliance is calling for a ban of the routine preventative use of antibiotics in groups of healthy animals in the UK and the EU, and for dramatic reductions in farm use of ‘critically important’ antibiotics.

Overuse of antibiotics in intensive farming is contributing to antibiotic resistance in human medicine, and farming practices must prioritise animal health and welfare, reducing the need for antibiotics in the first place.

For more information click here.