Alarming WHO Report Reveals Inadequate Global Efforts to Combat Antibiotic Resistance

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Despite repeated warnings about the dangers of antibiotic resistance, many countries still do not have a plan to combat the problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) collected data from around the world and issued a report outlining extent of the shortcomings.

More and more bacteria are becoming less sensitive to even the best medication on the market. Just recently, researchers identified ‘sequential treatments’ as the key to treating stubborn bacterial infections. In addition, clinicians have had to switch up antibiotic usage in order to stop urological surgery patients from developing immunity.

However, does this responsibility lay solely with practitioners?

“This is the single greatest challenge in infectious diseases today,” Keiji Fukuda, MD, assistant director-general for health security at WHO, said in a news release.

WHO issued a survey that addressed current practices in response to antibiotic resistance for pneumonia, malaria, HIV, bloodstream infections, and tuberculosis. Out of the 133 countries that provided information in 2013 and 2014 — including countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Americas – only 34 of them (about 25%) have a comprehensive national plan to fight the issue.

“Of particularly urgent concern is the development of bacteria that are progressively less treatable by available antibiotics,” Fukuda explained.

The results from the survey suggest the following points:

There is low public awareness of antibiotic resistance worldwide.
Monitoring is key, but many countries do not have the proper surveillance to identify patterns in resistance.
Many countries overuse antibiotics due to several factors including a lack in treatment guidelines and obtaining the drugs without prescriptions.
Hospital-acquired infections continue to be an issue that needs to be prevented and controlled.

While a proportion of the countries have programs in place to increase public awareness, the government-reported information reveals a daunting reality.

African Region (8 out of the 47 Member States responded):

Data from all of the countries that participated were incomplete due to a lack of information
All 8 of the countries said that malaria and tuberculosis antibiotic resistance are their biggest challenges

The Americas Region (26 out of the 35 Member States responded):

3 of the countries have a national plan for antimicrobial resistance
10 of the countries have standard treatment guidelines

Eastern Mediterranean Region (13 out of the 21 Member States responded):

None of the countries have a national plan for antimicrobial resistance
9 of the countries offer antibiotics without a prescription

European Region (49 out of the 53 Member States responded):

40% of the countries have a national plan for antimicrobial resistance
All of the countries surveillance the issue through the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net) which is facilitated by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

South-East Asia Region (All 11 Member States responded):

5 of the countries have a national plan for antimicrobial resistance
Many of the countries report that the healthcare providers do not properly follow the prescribing guidelines

Western Pacific Region (26 out of the 27 Member States responded):

4 of the countries have a national plan for antimicrobial resistance
Overall there is a weak enforcement on requiring prescriptions to obtain antibiotics

Taking the obtained information into consideration, WHO and partners created a Global Action Plan draft that addresses this major medical concern. It was submitted to the 68^th World Health Assembly that will take place in May 2015. Governments from countries across the globe will be asked to not only approve the plan, but then put it into action.

“Today, we welcome what has been achieved so far, but much more needs to be done to avoid losing the ability to practice medicine and treat both common and serious illnesses,” Fukuda said.