A new study by the UN Environment Program (UNEP) is warning that up to ten million people could die annually by 2050 due to anti-microbial resistance (AMR).
In a report launched in Barbados on Tuesday, the study highlights the need to curtail pollution created by the pharmaceuticals, agricultural and healthcare sectors. The study focuses on the environmental dimensions of AMR, which occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines.
It calls for strengthening action to reduce the emergence, transmission and spread of “superbugs” – strains of bacteria that have become resistant to every known biotic – and other instances of AMR, which are already taking a serious toll on human, animal, and plant health.
“The environmental crisis of our time is also one of human rights and geopolitics – the antimicrobial resistance report published by UNEP today is yet another example of inequity, in that the AMR crisis is disproportionately affecting countries in the Global South,” said host Prime Minister Mia Mottley who chairs an UN-backed initiative of world leaders and experts examining the issue.
The report was launched at the Sixth Meeting of the Global Leaders Group on AMR. It contains measures to address both the decline of the natural environment and the rise of AMR, with focus on addressing key pollution sources from poor sanitation, sewage, and community and municipal wastes.
Recommendations include creating robust governance, planning, regulatory and legal frameworks at the national level, and increasing global efforts to improve integrated water management.
Other measures suggested are establishing international standards for what constitutes a good microbiological indicator of AMR from environmental samples, and exploring options to redirect investments, including to guarantee sustainable funding.
According to the World Health Organization, AMR is among the top ten global threats to health. In 2019, an estimated 1.27 million deaths globally were directly attributed to drug-resistant infections. Overall, nearly five million deaths were associated with bacterial AM and it is expected that an estimated ten million additional direct deaths annually by 2050 will occur, which is equal to the number of deaths caused globally by cancer in 2020.
CMC
