The UK government has launched a 5-year action plan outlining how the nation intends to contribute to the containment and control of antimicrobial resistance by the year 2040.
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The government’s goals include a 10% reduction in the number of drug-resistant infections by 2025 and the prevention of at least 15,000 new infections as a result of healthcare by 2024.
Pharma companies will also be expected to make an effort to address the problem. NHS England and NICE will investigate new models of payment that will reward the pharma industry based on how valuable antibiotics are to the NHS rather than how many are sold.
Estimates predict that antibiotic resistance could kill as many as 10 million people every year by 2050 if action is not taken. Ineffective antibiotics could mean routine operations such as hip replacements or caesareans will become life-threatening.
Although the UK has made progress in reducing antibiotic use and sales, the number of drug-resistant blood infections was still 35% in higher in 2017, compared with 2013.
A major focus of the new plans is to ensure current antibiotics retain efficacy by reducing the number of resistant infections and ensuring antibiotics are only prescribed when needed.
Newly developed technologies will be employed to gather patient data in real-time and to help ensure clinicians understand when it is appropriate to prescribe antibiotics.
Applying this approach worldwide would also help to build a database of information on global antibiotic use and resistance.
Imagine a world without antibiotics, where treatable infections become untreatable, where routine surgery like a hip operation becomes too risky to carry out, and where every wound is potentially life-threatening.”
Matt Hancock, Health and Social Care Secretary
Also commenting on the issue, Prime Minister Theresa May says the increase in antibiotic resistance is a threat we cannot afford to ignore: “It is vital that we tackle the spread of drug-resistant infections before routine operations and minor illnesses become life-threatening.”
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Antimicrobial resistance: UK launches 5-year action plan and 20-year vision