No Time to Wait: Securing the future from drug-resistant infections • 1
Antimicrobial resistance is a global crisis that threatens
a century of progress in health and achievement of the
Sustainable Development Goals.
• Antimicrobial (including antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal
and antiprotozoal) agents are critical tools for ghting
diseases in humans, terrestrial and aquatic animals
and plants, but they are becoming ineffective.
• Alarming levels of resistance have been reported in
countries of all income levels, with the result that
common diseases are becoming untreatable, and
lifesaving medical procedures riskier to perform.
• Antimicrobial resistance poses a formidable
challenge to achieving Universal Health Coverage and
threatens progress against many of the Sustainable
Development Goals, including in health, food security,
clean water and sanitation, responsible consumption
and production, and poverty and inequality.
• Misuse and overuse of existing antimicrobials in
humans, animals and plants are accelerating the
development and spread of antimicrobial resistance.
• Inadequate access to clean water, sanitation and
hygiene in health care facilities, farms, schools,
households and community settings; poor infection
and disease prevention; lack of equitable access
to affordable and quality-assured antimicrobials,
vaccines and diagnostics; and weak health, food and
feed production, food safety and waste management
systems are increasing the burden of infectious
disease in animals and humans and contributing
to the emergence and spread of drug-resistant
pathogens.
There is no time to wait. Unless the world acts urgently,
antimicrobial resistance will have disastrous impact
within a generation.
• Drug-resistant diseases already cause at least 700,000
deaths globally a year, including 230,000 deaths from
multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, a gure that could
increase to 10 million deaths globally per year by
2050 under the most alarming scenario if no action
is taken. Around 2.4 million people could die in high-
income countries between 2015 and 2050 without a
sustained effort to contain antimicrobial resistance.
• The economic damage of uncontrolled antimicrobial
resistance could be comparable to the shocks
experienced during the 2008-2009 global nancial
crisis as a result of dramatically increased health care
expenditures; impact on food and feed production,
trade and livelihoods; and increased poverty and
inequality.
• In higher-income countries, a package of simple
interventions to address antimicrobial resistance
could pay for itself due to costs averted. In lower-
income countries, additional but still relatively
modest investments are urgently needed.
• If investments and action are further delayed, the
world will have to pay far more in the future to
cope with the disastrous impact of uncontrolled
antimicrobial resistance.
Because the drivers of antimicrobial resistance lie in
humans, animals, plants, food and the environment, a
sustained One Health response is essential to engage
and unite all stakeholders around a shared vision and
goals.
• National Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plans are
at the heart of a multisectoral One Health response,
but nancing and capacity constraints in many
countries need to be urgently addressed to accelerate
implementation.
• Strengthening infection prevention and control in
health care facilities and farms using available tools
and ensuring access to clean water, sanitation and
hygiene in health facilities, farms, schools, household
and community settings are central to minimizing
disease transmission and the emergence and
transmission of antimicrobial resistance in humans,
animals, plants, food and the environment.
• Strengthening surveillance, regulatory frameworks,
professional education and oversight of antimicrobial
prescription and use, and increasing awareness
among all stakeholders are also signicant challenges
that need to be urgently addressed to ensure the
responsible use of antimicrobials and to minimize
resistance in humans, animals, plants, food and the
environment.
• Immediately stopping the use of the antimicrobials
on the WHO List of Highest Priority Critically
Important Antimicrobial Agents for Human Medicine
as growth promoters is an essential rst step towards
completely phasing out the use of antimicrobials for
growth promotion.
• Additional effort, investments and incentives
are needed to spur innovation in antimicrobial
medicines, diagnostics, vaccines, waste management
tools, safe and effective alternatives to antimicrobials
and alternative practices, as well as operational and
implementation research, in human, animal and plant
health.
• Many people around the world still do not have
access to antimicrobials. Ensuring equitable and
affordable access to quality antimicrobial agents and
their responsible and sustainable use is an essential
component of the global response to antimicrobial
resistance.
• Stronger political leadership, advocacy, coordination
and accountability are needed at all levels to enable
a sustained One Health response to antimicrobial
resistance. All stakeholder groups – including
governments, civil society and the private sector
– need to be engaged and to collaborate in an
unprecedented effort across the human, animal,
plant, food and feed production and environmental
sectors, based on a shared vision and goals.
• The challenges of antimicrobial resistance are complex
and multifaceted, but they are not insurmountable.
Implementation of the recommendations in this
report will help to save millions of lives, maintain
economic and other development gains, and secure
the future from drug-resistant diseases.
KEY MESSAGES IN THIS REPORT
No Time to Wait: Securing the future from drug-resistant infections • 1