28 February 2019: The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation is calling attention to the rise of antibiotic resistance as a “systems failure” in both health care and agriculture. In a research report co-published with the ReAct network, the Foundation highlights the relevance of this issue to poverty (SDG 1), food production (SDG 2), health (SDG 3), economic growth (SDG 8), inequality (SDG 10), and the environment (with specific reference to SDG 6 on water, SDG 14 on life below water and SDG 15 on life on land). The authors call for addressing antibiotic resistance when taking steps to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and undertaking national action plans on antimicrobial resistance.
The authors of the report titled, ‘When the Drugs Don’t Work – Antibiotic Resistance as a Global Development Problem,’ explain that antibiotic resistance is spreading through wastewater from hospitals and municipalities, open defecation, waste from animal farms, manure runoff from crop fields, discharge from aquaculture farms, and wastewater from pharmaceutical manufacturing plants. They note that current methods of wastewater treatment are not capable of removing antibiotics from water; thus, antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals used in healthcare and animal husbandry contaminate the water flowing from farms, aquaculture ponds, health care facilities and other sources. Besides the implications for human and animal health, they warn, antibiotics have toxic effects on ecosystems, causing reductions in microbial biodiversity.
Safe water and modern sanitation could reduce bacterial infections by as much as 60%, reducing the need for treatment with antibiotics.
The research suggests that antibiotic resistance may be addressed through preventing infections and limiting the spread of resistance, as well as by finding alternative treatments for infectious diseases, and developing new antibiotics. However, they warn against relying on the latter as the sole strategy. Rather, they highlight the value to be gained from ensuring adequate water and sanitation facilities, which would eliminate many bacterial infections and reduce the need for treatment with antibiotics. In some countries, they estimate that the reduction in bacterial infections from providing safe water and modern sanitation would be as much as 60%, citing Brazil, India, Indonesia and Nigeria as examples.
The report concludes with several recommended actions: integrating work on antibiotic resistance into implementation of the 2030 Agenda; developing indicators for addressing antibiotic resistance in the context of national and regional target setting; strengthening governance through stakeholder action in the health and agriculture sectors; increase awareness-raising efforts on the issue; and undertaking actions that are proven to curb resistance in areas such as infection prevention and control (IPC), water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), maternal and child health programs; immunization; and ending the routine use of antibiotics in animals.
The Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation aims to advance dialogue and policy for sustainable development and peace. The ReAct network is an independent network with the purpose of taking action on antibiotic resistance. [Publication: When the Drugs Don’t Work – Antibiotic Resistance as a Global Development Problem] [Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation Webpage on Report] [ReAct Press Release]