According to the agency’s latest monitoring report, antibiotic resistance increased by more than 40 percent of the bacterial drug combinations traced between 2018 and 2023, with average annual increases in the area from 5 to 15 percent.
“Antimicrobial resistance surpasses progress in modern medicine that threatens the health of families around the world,“Said WHO HERFORY Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“As countries strengthen their AMR monitoring systems, we need to use antibiotics responsibly and make sure everyone has access to the right drugs, quality insured diagnostics and vaccines.”
A ‘quiet pandemic’
The report, which is based on data from over 100 countries, offers the most comprehensive image yet of the extent of the problem. It found it One in three infections of WHO’s Southeast Asia and East Mediterranean Regions were resistant to antibiotics compared to one in five in Africa.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites develop to withstand the substances designed to kill them. This makes infections more difficult to treat, increases the risk of serious illness or death and threatens decades of medical progress.
The phenomenon – often described as a “quiet pandemic” – is driven by abuse and overuse of antibiotics in humans, animals and agriculture as well as poor infection control and limited access to medical quality.
It estimates that Bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths in 2019 and contributed to almost five million deaths globally. Without action, experts warn, resistant infections can cause an affluent $ 3 trillion in global GDP losses a year by 2030.
A scientist works at a research center laboratory. (file)
The emergence of ‘superbugs’
The report emphasizes that the biggest threat comes from gram-negative bacteria pathogens that are notorious difficult to kill and resistant to more drugs.
Among these, Escherichia Coli (E.Coli) and Klebsiella Pneumoniae (K.Pneumoniae), show two common causes of bloodstream infections alarming levels of resistance to the third generation of cephalosporins, the first line treatment for many serious infections.
Globally, more than 40 percent of E. coli and 55 percent of K. pneumoniae tribes were resistant to these antibiotics, with levels that exceeded 70 percent in parts of Africa. Other essential antibiotics, including carbapenems and fluoroquinolones, also lose effectiveness against these and other pathogens, including salmonella and acinetobacter.
Increasing resistance is “to force clinicians to turn to last resort antibiotics,” The report warned. These tReatments are expensive, complex and often inaccessible in countries with lower incomenarrowing options and increasing the risk of mortality.
Fragile systems, increasing risks
The report also finds that resistance is most widespread in countries with weak health systems and limited monitoring capacity, which emphasizes a cycle where poor data and fragile health infrastructures fuel the results.
While progress has been made with surveillance resistance, larger data jerkers persist. Counters in WHO’s surveillance system has risen more than four times since launch in 2016, from 25 to 104 countries, but almost half of the WHO member states did not still report data in 2023.
Even among reporting countries, many lack the systems needed to generate reliable, representative data.
A call for coordinated action
The UN General Assembly’s political declaration of AMR confirmed global obligations to tackle resistance through a “health” method that integrates human, animal and environmental health.
Who said that countries now have to translate these obligations into concrete actions.
“Our future depends on strengthening systems to prevent, diagnose and treat infections,“Said Tedros.”We also need to innovate with the next generation’s antibiotics and quick care point molecular tests.“
