Antimicrobial Resistance
How the overuse of antibiotics is creating drug-resistant superbugs that could kill millions, and why AMR is a global governance challenge as much as a medical one.
The Silent Pandemic
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites evolve to survive the drugs designed to kill them. A 2022 Lancet study estimated that AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths and associated with 4.95 million deaths in 2019, making it one of the leading causes of death globally. By 2050, without significant action, AMR could kill 10 million people per year and cost the global economy $100 trillion, according to the O'Neill Review commissioned by the UK government.
The root cause is the overuse and misuse of antibiotics. In many countries, antibiotics are available without prescription, leading to their use for viral infections (where they are useless) and in sub-therapeutic doses that promote resistance. Agriculture accounts for roughly 70 percent of global antibiotic use: farmers administer antibiotics to healthy livestock to promote growth and prevent disease in crowded conditions. This creates enormous reservoirs of resistant bacteria that can transfer to humans through the food chain, water contamination, and direct contact.
