The Lancet Series on AMR, recently launched on the margins of the World Health Assembly, highlights that babies, older people and people with compromised immune systems are at the most significant risk of suffering from antimicrobial resistance.
The Lancet says 7.7 million deaths globally are associated with bacterial infections; of these, 4.95 million are associated with AMR, and 1.27 million are caused by bacterial pathogens resistant to the antibiotics available to treat them.
Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General, Africa CDC, welcomed the ground-breaking evidence by the authors while addressing a panel during The Lancet Series on Sustainable Access to Effective Antibiotics launch on 28 May in Geneva, Switzerland, underlining the gaps in AMR surveillance.
“The limited data across the continent slows Africa’s response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), but it has allowed the continent to find viable solutions such as preventive measures,” said Dr Kaseya.
The Series aims to frame the issue of AMR so actions to prevent infections (through vaccination, water, sanitation and hygiene, and infection prevention and control) and ensure that patients everywhere have access to affordable, effective antibiotics.
Dr. Kaseya said that the Africa CDC supports countries with surveillance mechanisms for collecting and using this data for action and advocacy.
To get buy-in from national leaders, Dr. Kaseya said he tells them that antimicrobial resistance is killing more people than HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis combined.
“It also becomes an opportunity to sensitize leaders to put in place appropriate policies and resources to tackle the menace,” he said
Through novel modelling data, ‘The Lancet Series on antimicrobial resistance: sustainable access to effective antibiotics’ highlights how existing actions to stop infections can not only prevent a significant proportion of deaths due to AMR in low- and middle-income countries but also reduce the use of antibiotics, therefore, increasing their accessibility.’
The new Series highlights how babies, children, the elderly and people with chronic illness are most vulnerable to AMR as they have a higher risk of contracting bacterial infections in general.
Dr Mandy K. Cohen, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) USCDC, said AMR is not a single pathogen, so investing in laboratory capability, a talented workforce, and response skills would go a long way.
“Whether we are having a response about Tuberculosis or AMR, it has to start with good data, infrastructure, and a talented and trained workforce,” she said.
The importance of prevention lies in investing in vaccines. Dr Cohen said by investing in vaccines, they are helping on the AMR front.
“Our findings highlight how public health actions to prevent infections in the first place should be prioritized as a strategy to tackle AMR. These methods can drastically reduce the number of deaths from AMR-associated infections. We can improve infection control methods, water, sanitation, and vaccination in LMICs. In that case, it should be possible to reduce the number of deaths linked with AMR by 10% by 2030,” said co-author Yewande Alimi, AMR and One Health unit lead at Africa CDC.
“Vaccines are a nice starting point; we have them, but they are under-deployed,” said panel chair Dr Iruka Okeke, a bacteriologist from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria.
The Series also highlights the need to rethink drug development, support investment in antibiotic development, lower patient costs, and make antibiotics more accessible.
In Africa, most of my people are dying because of a shortage of antibiotics in addition to misuse of drugs, said Dr Kaseya. He acknowledged that Africa lacked access to appropriate quality medicine, and the Africa CDC procurement mechanism that should bring affordable products for the population has yet to include antibiotics.
The new Lancet Series, supported by Africa CDC and partners, calls for support for sustainable antibiotic access to be central to ambitious and actionable targets on tackling AMR introduced at the High-Level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2024. The Lancet AMR Series proposed that globally, by 2030, there should be a 10% reduction in mortality, a 20% reduction in inappropriate human antibiotic use, and a 30% reduction in animal antibiotic use.
