EU Health Award for NGOs Fighting Antimicrobial Resistance 2016

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria kill 25 000 people in the EU every year, and cost the economy €1.5 billion. The European Commission’s EU Health Award recognizes and rewards the efforts and achievements of European NGOs towards reducing the threat to human health from antimicrobial resistance.

Through the EU Health Award, the European Commission aims to draw attention to outstanding good practices by NGOs to reduce the threat to human health from AMR and encourage their wider replication throughout the EU.

Making a difference in fighting AMR

There were 26 candidate NGOs which were considered for the prize, with applications coming from 10 different Member States. Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis announced the shortlisted NGOs’ initiatives on European Antibiotics Awareness Day (EAAD) on November 18th, 2016. The EAAD aims to raise awareness about the threat to public health of antibiotic resistance and the importance of the proper use of antibiotics.

The winners of the EU Health Award were announced on February 6th 2017 at the Horizon Prize and EU Health Award for NGOs joint ceremony in Leuven, Belgium, in presence of EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas and EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis.

The first prize winner was  BEUC/The European Consumer Organisation,  followed by Alliance to Save our Antibiotics – Compassion in world Farming – Soil Association, and World Alliance Against Antibiotic Resistance WAAAR. 

Source: European Commission

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