WHO warns of surging levels of antibiotic resistance

The logo of the World Health Organisation is seen at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, Jan 28, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

One in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections are resistant to antibiotic treatments, the World Health Organisation said on Monday, calling for the medicines to be used more responsibly.

Resistance to antibiotics rose in around 40 percent of samples monitored, the UN health agency said in a report based on data from more than 100 countries between 2016-2023.

“Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement accompanying the report. "We must use antibiotics responsibly, and make sure everyone has access to the right medicines, quality-assured diagnostics, and vaccines."

Globally, resistance to antibiotics directly accounts for more than 1 million deaths annually. While genetic changes in pathogens are part of a natural process, human activity such as the misuse and overuse of antibiotics to control infections in humans, animals and plants is accelerating that process.

The highest levels of antibiotic resistance are in parts of South Asia and the Middle East where about one in three reported infections are resistant, according to the WHO.

In Africa, resistance to the first-choice treatment for some types of bacteria found in bloodstream infections which can cause sepsis, organ failure and death, now exceed 70%, it said.