Clear and present danger: Lancet study highlights AMR time bomb in India, world

What is the News?

According to a study published in The Lancet, Antimicrobial resistance(AMR) is a major health threat both for the world and for India.

The study calculated the disease burden on the basis of two criteria: Deaths directly attributable to AMR and Deaths associated with AMR.

What are the key findings of the study?

Deaths directly attributable to AMR

Antimicrobial resistance(AMR) was directly attributable to the death of around 1.27 million people in 2019.

AMR played a key associated role in the 4.95 million deaths in 2019.

E.coli and MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) were among the drug-resistant bacteria that led to most deaths.

Deaths associated with AMR

AMR posed a threat to people of all ages. But young children were found to be at particularly high risk, with one in five deaths attributable to AMR occurring in children under the age of five.

The study also showed a global disparity in the AMR threat. The deaths per thousand associated with AMR for Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caribbean, Middle East was found to be less than South Asia or Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania or sub-Saharan Africa Regions.

What are the suggestions given by the study?

The study has made several suggestions such as a) Reducing human exposure to antibiotics in meat, b) Minimizing the unnecessary use of antibiotics — for example, in treating viral infections c) Preventing the need for antibiotics through vaccination programs and vaccine development and d) Providing more funding to develop new antibiotics and treatments.

Source: This post is based on the article ‘Clear and present danger: Lancet study highlights AMR time bomb in India, world’ published in Down To Earth on 25th January 2022.