Health. Antibiotic resistance: an alarming finding

“Unchecked, antimicrobial resistance will reduce life expectancy and lead to unprecedented healthcare costs and economic losses. » This is the alarming observation made on Thursday April 4 in a press release by the Global Steering Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, relayed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Antimicrobials – antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals, antiparasitics – are drugs used to prevent and treat infections in living beings – humans, animals and plants.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when antimicrobials are used excessively or misused.

Bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites then adapt to the drug and evolve to resist it later. They adapt.

“As a result, medications lose their effectiveness and infections persist in the body, increasing the risk of transmission to other people,” summarizes the WHO.

Children under 5 years old targeted

Ram is already one of the main causes of death in the world, directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths per year, according to the group of experts.

One in five deaths concern children under the age of 5, mainly in low- and middle-income countries.

The economic study carried out by these experts shows that the humanitarian catastrophe will be compounded by an economic catastrophe. They claim that globally, 1.8 years of life expectancy will be lost by 2023.

The study estimates additional health costs of $412 billion (€380 billion) per year and lost workforce productivity of $443 billion (€409 billion) per year.

Besides this bleak picture, she proposes solutions that would cost an average of $46 million per year, but would return $13 for every dollar spent by 2050.

Research, surveillance, prevention, coordination

The group of experts therefore calls for a strong mobilization of UN member countries. “This data portends a devastating future if we do not take bolder action now,” said Ram Panel Chair, Mia Amor Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados. “That’s why the Global Leadership Group is making recommendations and proposing targets to drive a robust global response to AMR and save millions of lives. »

Guidelines are presented, notably to better finance research and development of new drugs, coordinate a global response and strengthen surveillance of AMR.

“Because prevention is the cornerstone of the response to Ram, the GLG recommends that countries implement strategies to prevent infections in human and animal health and in food, plant and environmental ecosystems to reduce the need for antimicrobials”, note the experts.

Demanding goals

They set several objectives to be achieved by 2030:

• Reduce the number of human deaths due to AMR by 10%;
• Consume 80% of all antibiotics from Access group antibiotics. These drugs, such as amoxicillin, “are effective in a wide range of common infections and have a relatively low risk of generating resistance,” explains WHO;
• Reduce the quantity of antimicrobials used in the food industry by at least 30 to 50%;
• Put an end to the use of antimicrobials of primary importance for humans in animals when the aim is not to treat and in plants when the aim is not phytosanitary (example: the use of antibiotics for growth)

Source: WHO, Global Steering Group on Antimicrobial Resistance