LSE Festival 2019 | The Drugs Aren't Working! Confronting the Crisis of Superbugs

Contributor(s): Michael Anderson, Dr Mathias Koenig-Archibugi, Ken Shadlen, Catherine Wilkosz | Growing resistance to antibiotics is one of the most significant current threats to global public health. Estimates suggest that in the European Union and the United States alone infections from multidrug resistant bacteria cause around 50,000 deaths a year, with substantial economic burdens associated with these infections. These figures will likely worsen, in the absence of new antibiotics to replace those with declining effectiveness. Existing systems of global health governance and drug development need to be reconfigured in order to respond to new threats. Coordinated international action is needed to address an impending global crisis – but how best to mobilise divergent private and public sector interests and forestall pending disorder? The interdisciplinary panel sitting across International Development, Health Policy, Government and International Relations will each address the chal