Thursday 7 April is World Health Day. This year, World Health Day focuses on the theme “Antimicrobial resistance: no action today, no cure tomorrow”. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), also known as drug resistance, is a serious world health problem that is rapidly becoming more dangerous.

So what exactly are antimicrobials, and what does resistance mean for the general public? Antimicrobials are the medicines – such as antibiotics, antivirals, and antimalarials – that treat the conditions that would have proven fatal decades or even just a few years ago. Conditions such as HIV/AIDS, gonorrhoea and tuberculosis are treated with antimicrobials.

Because of AMR, resistant organisms (including bacteria, viruses and some parasites) are able to withstand attack by antimicrobial medicines, so that standard treatments become ineffective and infections persist and may spread to others.

AMR is driven by the inappropriate and irrational use of medicines. Such misuse includes not taking the complete course of prescribed antimicrobials, using poor quality antimicrobials, or overusing antimicrobials. Animal husbandry involving antimicrobials for growth and disease prevention also promotes AMR.
For World Health Day 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) will be calling for intensified global commitment to safeguard these medicines for future generations. WHO will call on governments and stakeholders worldwide to implement the policies and practices needed to prevent and counter the emergence of highly resistant microorganisms. For more information, visit who.int/world-health-day/2011.

AMR fast facts

• About 440 000 new cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis emerge annually, causing at least 150 000 deaths • A high percentage of hospital-acquired infections are caused by highly resistant bacteria • The achievements of modern medicine are put at risk by AMR. Without effective antimicrobials for care and prevention of infections, the success of treatments such as organ transplantation, cancer chemotherapy and major surgery would be compromised • Resistance is an emerging concern for treatment of HIV infection, following the rapid expansion in access to antiretroviral medicines in recent years • AMR has become a serious problem for treatment of gonorrhoea. Untreatable gonococcal infections would result in increased rates of illness and death, thus reversing the gains made in the control of this sexually transmitted infection