Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites evolve to resist the effects of medications that once effectively treated them.
This resistance makes standard treatments ineffective, leading to persistent infections and increasing the risk of spread to others.
The study said currently, more than 49 lakh people annually die due to AMR. According to the estimates of a new modelling analysis as part of a new four-paper series published in The Lancet, 7.5 lakh deaths linked to AMR could be prevented every year in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through available vaccines, water and sanitation, and infection-control methods.
The authors of the series call for “urgent global action” on AMR and ensuring sustainable access to antibiotics.
“The window of opportunity to ensure our ability to treat bacterial infections is shrinking,” said co-author Ramanan Laxminarayan, founder and president of the One Health Trust, an independent research organisation headquartered in Washington.
“For too long, the problem of AMR has been seen as either not urgent or too difficult to solve. Neither is true. We need immediate action and the tools to do so are widely available. We hope that this September, the United Nations High-Level Meeting will ensure that there is also the global will to act.”