The World Health Organization (OMS) commemorated Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Awareness Week, an international health challenge that causes approximately 1.27 million deaths each year. This serious public health problem is largely attributed to the inappropriate and excessive use of antibiotics, both in medical treatments and in veterinary practices. The organization’s initiative seeks raise awareness among the population and professionals about the risks associated with this resistance, which threatens to make some treatments ineffectivecompromising the ability to combat common infections and medical procedures that depend on antimicrobials.
AMR, one of the greatest future threats to healthaccording to the global health agency, and it is also an economic problem that could cause global health networks expenditures of up to 412 billion dollars by 2035, The head of the WHO awareness campaign, Philip Mathew, highlighted last Tuesday at a press conference.
“AMR threatens our ability to treat common infections or to carry out vital operations ranging from cancer chemotherapy to organ transplantation or hip implantation,” said the expert.
Studies published in the specialized journal The Lancet they point out that The problem is increasing and could cause up to 1.91 million deaths by mid-century.
Faced with this, the WHO and other agencies are calling for increased research into methods to curb this problem, arguing that for every dollar invested, between 13 and 17 dollars could be saved in medical expenses or losses in labor and productivity.
According to the WHO, If the current rate of advance of this antimicrobial resistance continues, 1.8 years of life expectancy could be lost on a global average over the next decade.
Along with the abuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobials in agriculture and health, other factors of the increase in AMR are inadequate hygiene systems in health centers, or the indiscriminate dumping of drug waste on farms, industrial zones and health facilities, recalls the WHO. .
Last September, the United Nations General Assembly held a high-level meeting on this issue, in which political commitments were made with a view to reduce deaths linked to AMR by 10% before the middle of the next decade.
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites they become resistant to medications, making it difficult or sometimes impossible to cure certain infections.
According to the UN, this is a “silent crisis” that threatens not only human health, but animal health, agriculture and the environment as a whole, due to the risk of antimicrobial-resistant microbes spreading through the chain. food.
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