OECD published a report titled Embracing a One Health Framework to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance.
The report shows that today, one in five bacterial infections are resistant to antibiotic treatment in OECD countries. Resistant infections claim the lives of around 79 000 people every year across OECD and EU/EEA countries. This corresponds to 2.4 times the number of deaths due to tuberculosis, influenza and HIV/AIDS combined in 2020. Healthcare acquired resistant infections account for more than 60% of AMR-related deaths.
The report estimates that, if left unchecked, resistance to third-line antimicrobials – the last resort drugs against difficult-to-treat infections – could be 2.1 times higher by 2035 in the OECD compared to 2005. This means that health systems will be closer to running out of options to treat patients suffering from a range of illnesses such as pneumonia and bloodstream infections. In some countries, such as Greece, India and Türkiye, more than 40% of all infections caused by the 12 antibiotic-superbug combinations that the OECD studied are expected to be resistant to antibiotics by 2035.
The report says that scaling up investments in One Health packages of actions against AMR is affordable, with a return on investment significantly greater than implementation costs. Every USD 1 invested in a mixed policy package across the health and food sectors, generates returns equivalent to USD 5 in economic benefits achieved through reductions in health expenditure and increased productivity at work. The health and economic benefits of implementing One Health policies as policy packages far exceed the benefits accrued by implementing these policies in isolation.
Read the report Embracing a One Health Framework to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance
