Professor Dame Sally Davies, UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), has issued a new warning for the coming year: without urgent action, millions of men, women and children will die over the next quarter of a century.
Dame Sally stated that currently a million people across the globe die due to antibiotic resistance, a figure which will spiral over the next 25 years. It is estimated that by 2050, death rates from AMR will have doubled, with 40 million set to die due to bacterial resistance between now and the middle of this century.
While AMR has been declining in the under-fives, mortality rates for over-seventies are accelerating. This means that, increasingly, older people will die from routine operations or as a result of common conditions, such as UTIs.
Dame Sally also remarked upon the abundant and unrestrained use of antibiotics in farming, leading to bacterially resistant wastewater entering our waterways and exacerbating the issue.
While AMR has been recognised internationally as a priority issue, current measures still lack necessary urgency. Ensuring this is rectified must be a priority for governments internationally in 2025, Dame Sally insisted.
