Pharmacies handing out antibiotics to people without prescriptions; the proliferation of fake drugs with watered-down active ingredients; the blanket use of antibiotics in livestock production and agriculture; and the reckless handling of waste from manufacturing and health facilities — these are all reasons antimicrobial resistance is on the rise.
This abuse and overuse of antibiotics already kill at least 700,000 people each year from drug-resistant disease, including 230,000 that die from multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Without action, this could spiral to 10 million deaths each year by 2050, including 4.1 million people on the African continent. In the next 10 years, it could push another 24 million people into extreme poverty. This slow-burning public health threat has been referred to as a “silent pandemic.”
And it is the “quintessential threat” to overall development, including the sustainable development goals and efforts to reduce poverty, according to Dr. Walter Fuller, antimicrobial resistance stewardship and awareness lead at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, during a recent conference.