Superbugs could put millions of lives & trillions at stake by 2050

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is already a significant threat, and by 2050, it is projected to escalate into dire economic and life-threatening global health crises.

The UK government-funded modelling study warns that superbugs could kill millions of people worldwide and cost global annual GDP losses of $1.7 trillion over the next quarter of a century.

The research conducted by Centre for Global Development thinktank, among the developed economies, the US, UK and EU would be the hardest hit.

Given the warning of study, the discussions are on the rise, considering the aid cuts as the main culprit behind the growing superbugs’ threat.

Funding cuts for AMR research

The UK government has recently announced to slash funding for the Fleming fund, known for combating antimicrobial resistance in low-and middle-income countries.

Moreover, the US administration has also axed $9 billion in its foreign aid budget. Even the European countries have also cut spending on overseas aid.

Deadly Impacts of slashed funding

The significant cuts in the aid spending are not devoid of major repercussions. Anthony McDonnell, the lead author and a policy fellow at the Centre for Global Development, said: “the sudden cuts to Official Development Assistance by the US, which has cut its aid spend by 80%; the UK, which has announced aid cuts from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income, and spending cuts by France, Germany, and others could drive up resistance rates in line with the most pessimistic scenario in our research.”

In the backdrop of reduced funding, it is not even possible for the countries that have been successful in keeping the AMR rates under control to maintain this accomplishment for a long time. To worse, the worst-affected counties will succumb to this deadly menace without any robust research and funding.

According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), the deaths from AMR could rise to 60 percent by 2050 with 1.34 million in the US and 184,000 are expected to die from these bugs.

Anthony continued: “This would result in millions more people dying worldwide, including across G7 nations. Investing in treatment for bacterial infections now will save lives and deliver billions in long-term economic returns.”

By 2025, China will face GDP losses of $722bn a year, the US $295.7bn, the EU $187bn, Japan $65.7bn, and the UK $58.6bn.

The workforce is also going to be impacted by the high rates of resistant bugs. For instance, the UK, EU and US labour forces will shrink by 0.8%, 0.6% and 0.4% respectively, study found.

What needs to be done?

First and foremost, the stakeholders should vouch for policy change in health and support robust funding for the development of new drugs against superbugs.

Moreover, public awareness should be promoted to prevent people from taking antibiotics unnecessarily.

Dr Mohsin Naghavim a professor of health metrics at IHME said: “Today, the threat of AMR is increasing rapidly, and without immediate action from all stakeholders the medicines we have access to now could stop working, potentially causing a simple infection to become deadly.”