Drug resistance
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Raising awareness
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Drug resistance: malaria
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Drug Resistance: tuberculosis
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Drug Resistance: HIV/AIDS
In spite of the availability of effective drugs and vaccines, the battle against infectious diseases is far from being over. Not only do they continue to cause a large number of infections and deaths, particularly in developing countries, but the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance is now threatening to undermine our ability to treat infections and save lives.
Respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrhoeal diseases, tuberculosis and malaria are the leading killers among the infectious diseases. Resistance to first-line drugs has been observed in all these diseases. In some cases, the level of resistance has forced a change to more expensive second or third-line agents. When resistance against these drugs also emerges, the world will run out of treatment options.
Drug resistance can be considered as a natural response to the selective pressure of the drug. However, it is exacerbated by several factors, including abuse, underuse or misuse of antimicrobials, poor patient compliance, and poor quality of available drugs.
To respond to this threat, WHO has developed the first Global Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance. The Strategy covers six key points required to respond to this problem, ranging from disease prevention, to access and appropriate use of antimicrobials, to surveillance, to the need for appropriate legislation and focused research. Addressed to policy-makers and managers in a range of sectors and agencies, the Strategy aims to both persuade governments to take urgent action and then to guide this action with expert technical and practical advice.
An Implementation Workshop on the Global Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance took place in November 2002. This considered on a global scale the extent to which the implementation recommendations of the Global Strategy are being put into place at country level.
A CD-ROM entitled Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance and Containment (ISBN 92 4 159 292 3), which contains most of the information on this website, as well as other information relating to antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance in farm animals, is available. It can be obtained free from:
Department of Medicines Policy and Standards
World Health Organization; 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland
Fax: +41 22 791 4167; e-mail: edmdoccentre@who.int
Related links
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Global Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance
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Implementation Workshop
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European Workshop
Contact us: amrwho@who.int
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