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Rabat – The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about widespread resistance to common antibiotics across the world.
The health organization announced today that one in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections in 2023 were resistant to antibiotic treatment.
WHO’s report said that antibiotic resistance rose in over 40% of the pathogen-antibiotic combinations monitored between 2018 and 2023. This represents an average annual increase of 5 to 15%, the report said, estimating that antibiotic resistance is highest in South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean regions.
In the African continent, 1 in 5 infections was resistant, WHO said, emphasizing that resistance is more common where health systems face challenges, including a lack of capacity to diagnose or treat bacterial pathogens.
The WHO report quoted the organization’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who warned against resistance, which is outpacing even modern medicine’s advances.
He said the phenomenon is threatening the international community’s health.
“We must use antibiotics responsibly, and make sure everyone has access to the right medicines, quality-assured diagnostics, and vaccines,” he said.
Last year, the WHO announced the update of its Bacterial Priority Pathogens List, which it published in 2017. The new list includes 24 bacterial pathogens across 15 families, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Salmonella, Shigella, and Neisseria gonorrhoeae.The new update aims to help boost research, funding, and public initiatives against antibiotic resistance. It also seeks to encourage countries and scientists to create new treatments.
