Who would we ever want to deal with infections that are difficult (or impossible) to treat! Young people are right when they call on world leaders to ensure a future where antimicrobial resistance is no longer a threat to global health security and food security.
"When I was a pharmacy student, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) used to be an abstract concept to me. I was taught about AMR and how to identify it by using drug susceptibility test, and how to look at the resistance pattern among other parts of our curriculum. But when I started working as a pharmacist, I saw more and more patients who were dealing with microbes resistant to medicines. AMR was no longer something I learnt about in school but a major challenge I need to deal with because patients rely on us to tell them what medications they can take. When we look at tests, then often we realise that they may have one or two options left of medicines that can respond (as they could be resistant to all other medicines for the disease they have)," said Dr Audrey Wong, Chairperson of Quadripartite Working Group for Young Engagement on AMR.
Quadripartite is a historic alliance comprising four global agencies that have come together to address AMR: global UN agency on human health (World Health Organization - WHO), global UN agency on food and agriculture (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations - FAO), global UN agency on the environment (United Nations Environment Programme - UNEP), and World Organisation for Animal Health - WOAH.
AMR is among the top 10 global health threats today. It is associated with an estimated 4.95 million deaths annually, mainly in low- and middle-income countries. AMR affects human health, animal health, plants and also our environment. Without a stronger response to prevent AMR, there would be an estimated average loss of 1.8 years of life expectancy globally by 2035. Financially, AMR would cost the world US$ 412 billion a year in additional healthcare costs and US$ 443 billion per year in lost workforce productivity.
In addition to causing deaths, which are projected to increase to 10 million a year by 2050, other expected impacts of AMR include increased morbidity due to infectious diseases, longer hospital stays, escalation of health expenditure, a fall in agricultural productivity (when food security worldwide is already threatened by the dire consequences of the climate crisis) and poor animal health and welfare, exacerbating animal suffering and loss.
Dr Audrey Wong was speaking with CNS (Citizen News Service, a founding member of Global AMR Media Alliance or GAMA) on the sidelines of the historic second-ever United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR. A political declaration was endorsed by heads of nations which is many shades stronger than the one adopted 8 years ago at a similar meet.
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