March 2016

ATS Washington Office staff recently participated in the United States Stakeholder Forum on Antibiotic Resistance (S-FAR) Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill. S-FAR is a national coalition of over 100 health professional, public health and industry organizations convened by the Infectious Diseases Society of America to work on addressing antimicrobial resistance.  ATS Washington Office staff lead a team of coalition representatives in meetings with congressional offices advocating for fiscal year 2017 funding for President Obama's Combating  Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria initiative.

The CARB initiative calls for targeted efforts at the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention –  specific funding for surveillance and antibiotic stewardship –  the National Institutes of Health and the Biomedical Advanced Research Authority, for research into the development of diagnostics and new therapeutics . The ATS will continue to support these programs to address antimicrobial resistant pneumonia, sepsis and tuberculosis infections.