AMR: WHO warns of 4.7m deaths, demands urgent action as Abuja hosts global summit

… Says gap between political pledges and implementation remains wide
… Warns livestock antibiotic use could rise 30% by 2040 without intervention
By Chioma Obinna

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains one of the world’s gravest public health threats, with bacterial drug resistance associated with more than 4.7 million deaths in 2021, urging governments to translate political commitments into urgent, measurable action.

The global health body said the growing threat, driven by the misuse and overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines, weak infection prevention, poor water and sanitation, and environmental pollution, could undermine the treatment of common infections and reverse gains in human and animal health.

The warning comes ahead of the 2026 World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week, WAAW, scheduled for November 18 to 24, with the theme, “One Health, One Action: Prevent AMR Now.”

Speaking at the sixth Annual Global Media Forum on AMR, Dr Jean-Pierre Nyemazi, Director a.i. of WHO’s Department of Antimicrobial Resistance and Director of the Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on AMR, described the challenge as both a health emergency and a development threat.

“AMR is one of the most urgent global health threats and development challenges. It threatens our ability to treat infections, protect animal and plant health, and produce safe food, and also has an impact on the environment,” he said.

Nyemazi said the millions of deaths associated with bacterial AMR should not be treated as mere statistics.

“These are not just statistics. Behind these numbers are patients, families, farmers and communities,” he said.

He expressed concern that despite global political commitments to tackle AMR, implementation remained far below expectations.

At the 2024 United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR, world leaders adopted a Political Declaration, committing to reduce bacterial AMR-associated deaths by 10 per cent by 2030, against a 2019 baseline of 4.95 million.

They also pledged to ensure that at least 60 per cent of countries had funded national AMR action plans by 2030 and called for at least $100 million in catalytic funding, including through the AMR Multi-Partner Trust Fund.

However, Nyemazi said: “The gap between commitments and pledges versus implementation remains wide,” identifying inadequate financing, fragmented coordination and weak surveillance as major obstacles.

He said the forthcoming Fifth Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR, scheduled for Abuja, Nigeria, from December 6 to 8, would provide an opportunity to review progress, confront implementation challenges and renew political commitment.

An updated Global Action Plan on AMR for 2026–2036 has been finalised and is expected to be launched at the Abuja conference. Work is also advancing towards establishing the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action against AMR, which is expected to be launched at the meeting.

Nyemazi urged journalists to sustain public attention and hold governments and other stakeholders accountable.

“You make visible what is often invisible. Your accurate, evidence-based and solution-focused reporting shapes public understanding, sustains political attention and holds all of us accountable,” he told journalists.

In his remarks, Dr Kefas Samson, Senior Technical Officer and Lead of Multisectoral Coordination in WHO’s AMR Department, said country-level action was critical to closing the gap between global commitments and actual progress.

He identified inadequate funding, weak national surveillance of antimicrobial resistance and use, poor infection prevention in healthcare facilities, limited diagnostic capacity, unequal access to quality-assured medicines and shortages of health workers as major barriers.

“Significant gaps still persist, and progress among countries also remains uneven,” Samson said.

He described the updated 2026–2036 Global Action Plan as “a renewed blueprint” for translating the 2024 UN Political Declaration into measurable national interventions.

“It is not just a plan; but a framework that translates the aspirations and ambitions of the political declaration on AMR 2024 into tangible actions at the country level,” he said.

The plan adopts a One Health approach, integrating human, animal, agricultural and environmental health, with priorities including prevention, surveillance, responsible antimicrobial use, stronger laboratories, equitable access to medicines, resilient supply chains, research and sustainable financing.

Samson said other 2030 targets included ensuring that 70 per cent of antibiotics used in human health belonged to WHO’s Access group, while 80 per cent of countries should have the capacity to test for priority bacterial and fungal pathogens under the Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System.

Meanwhile, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) warned that global antibiotic use in livestock could increase by nearly 30 per cent by 2040 if preventive measures were not strengthened.

Dr Junxia Song, FAO Deputy Chief Veterinarian and Chief of its One Health and Disease Control Branch, said improved animal health and farm management practices could reduce antibiotic use by as much as 57 per cent.

“Prevention must become central to the global fight against antimicrobial resistance, with farmers placed at the heart of the response,” she said.

Song said FAO’s assessment showed that agricultural priorities remained inadequately integrated and funded in many national AMR action plans, while nearly half of countries had either no or only partial legislation governing antimicrobial use in animal and plant health.

She said FAO was addressing the challenge through its 10-year initiative, Reduce the Need for Antimicrobials on Farms (RENOFARM), which has attracted more than 400 partners, including over 80 FAO member countries.

The initiative focuses on better animal health services, improved production practices, alternatives and innovation, incentives and partnerships.

On the environmental dimension, Aitziber Echeverria, AMR Coordinator, Chemicals and Health Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), warned that the global response would remain incomplete unless environmental pollution was tackled alongside human and animal health interventions.

“The environment plays a key role in the emergence, transmission and spread of AMR. The environment and AMR cannot be treated separately. That is the One Health concept,” she said.

She identified pharmaceutical manufacturing, agriculture and food systems, healthcare, and municipal waste and wastewater management as priority areas requiring urgent intervention.

“Environmental action on AMR is not an optional addition to the response. It is a prerequisite for success,” Echeverria said.

She called for investments in wastewater treatment, safe disposal of antimicrobial medicines, laboratory capacity and environmental surveillance, noting that environmental authorities remained inadequately represented in many national AMR governance structures.

Similarly, Dr Jane Lwoyero, Programme Officer at the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), called for increased investment in animal health, vaccination, farm biosecurity, surveillance and veterinary services.

“For every US$1 that is invested in prevention of animal diseases and for better animal health systems, we are ensured of getting a return of US$28,” she said.

Lwoyero disclosed that fewer than 20 per cent of WOAH member countries vaccinated animals against notifiable diseases, while animal diseases caused estimated annual global losses of up to $300 billion.

She said global antimicrobial use in animals declined by three per cent between 2019 and 2024, but warned that antimicrobial use for growth promotion remained a concern.

Chairperson of the Global AMR Media Alliance and host of the forum, Shobha Shukla, said even everyday injuries, including cuts and needle pricks, could expose people to drug-resistant infections.

She called for responsible use of antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals and antiparasitic medicines, alongside stronger infection prevention.

Shukla said the central challenge was no longer simply getting countries to recognise AMR or develop national action plans, but ensuring adequate funding, surveillance, laboratory capacity and accountability to implement them.

She called for a people-centred, rights-based and gender-transformative response that would prevent unnecessary antimicrobial use without denying essential medicines to people who genuinely need them.