antimicrobial resistance
The HinduAntimicrobial Resistance Collaborators, “Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis”, The Lancet, January 19, 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-673602724-0. Arguably the first such comprehensive study on AMR globally, the paper authored by Antimicrobial Resistance Collaborators states that AMR is a leading cause of death around the world, with the highest number of deaths occurring in low-resource settings. “Understanding the burden of AMR and the leading pathogen-drug combinations contributing to it is crucial to making informed and location specific policy decisions, particularly about infection prevention and control programmes, access to essential antibiotics, and research and development of new vaccines and antibiotics,” the authors have recommended. It is the hope of all collaborators, who continue to fight the big war with bacterial antimicrobial resistance, before, and through pandemics, that this new data provides the urgency and fresh momentum for global action to counter the single biggest burden that poses a major threat to human health.