WHO’s first global report on antibiotic resistance reveals serious, worldwide threat to public health

“Antimicrobial resistance: Global report on surveillance 2014”, produced in collaboration with Member States and external partners, is WHO’s first attempt to obtain an accurate picture of the magnitude of AMR and the current state of surveillance globally.

The report focuses on antibacterial resistance (ABR), as the state of surveillance in ABR is not generally as advanced as it is for diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), malaria and HIV. The most important findings of this report are:

• Very high rates of resistance have been observed in all WHO regions in common bacteria (for example, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus) that cause common health-care associated and community-acquired infections (urinary tract infections, wound infections, bloodstream infections and pneumonia).
• Many gaps exist in information on pathogens of major public health importance. There are significant gaps in surveillance, and a lack of standards for methodology, data sharing and coordination. Overall, surveillance of ABR is neither coordinated nor harmonized.

Despite the limitations of current surveillance, it is clear that ABR has reached alarming levels in many parts of the world. There is an urgent need to strengthen and coordinate collaboration to address those gaps. Lessons learned from long-standing experience in TB, malaria and HIV programmes may be usefully applied to ABR and are discussed in the report.

WHO is developing a global action plan for AMR that will include:

• development of tools and standards for harmonized surveillance of ABR in humans, and for integrated surveillance in food-producing animals and the food chain;
• elaboration of strategies for population-based surveillance of AMR and its health and economic impact; and
• collaboration between AMR surveillance networks and centres to create or strengthen coordinated regional and global surveillance.

AMR is a global health security threat that requires action across government sectors and society as a whole. Surveillance that generates reliable data is the essential foundation of global strategies and public health actions to contain AMR.