The World Health Organization warned on Friday that if immediate measures aren’t taken to reduce its impact, antimicrobial resistance could result in up to 10 million deaths by 2050.
Expressing concern over the rising usage of antimicrobial drugs, the WHO highlighted a 30% surge in global antibiotic consumption across humans, animals, and agriculture between 2000 and 2010.
Stating that AMR stands among the top 10 global public health threats, the Technical Officer of AMR at the WHO Nigeria Office, Dr. Laxmikant Chavan, conveyed this information during the seventh annual conference of the Association of Nigeria Health Journalists, held in collaboration with the World Health Organization in Nasarawa State.
AMR, as explained by Chavan, refers to the ability of microorganisms like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites to evolve and become unresponsive to medications.
This resistance makes infections more challenging to treat, heightening the risk of disease transmission, severe illness, and fatalities.
Furthermore, Chavan emphasized that AMR leads to escalated healthcare expenses, notably in the increased cost of advanced yet costly antibiotics and other medications, additional diagnostic costs, and prolonged hospital stays.
“The cost of AMR to national economies and development is significant. Under a worst-case scenario, AMR could cause a reduction in Gross Domestic Product equal to that of the 2008 financial crisis.
“However, the economic impacts would be worse in lower-income countries and would likely last longer.
“AMR is putting the gains of Millennium Development Goals at risk and endangers the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,” he said.
The expert expressed concern regarding the surging utilization of antimicrobial drugs, highlighting that global antibiotic consumption across humans, animals, and agriculture escalated by 30% from 50 billion standard units to 70 billion standard units between 2000 and 2010.
He emphasized that several factors are contributing to the global rise of antimicrobial resistance , including the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, inadequate access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, substandard infection and disease prevention and control, limited availability of quality and affordable medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics, lack of awareness, and insufficient enforcement of legislation.
These elements collectively drive the emergence of AMR, encompassing its prevalence in Nigeria.
“In 2010, at least 63,200 tons of antibiotics were consumed by livestock, partly driven by growing country GDPs and an increased demand for animal food products,” he disclosed.
