The government has published a 20-year vision and
5-year national action plan for how the UK will
contribute to containing and controlling AMR by 2040.
The plans include targets, such as:
- cutting the number of drug-resistant infections by 10%
(5,000 infections) by 2025
- reducing the use of antibiotics in humans by 15%
- preventing at least 15,000 patients from contracting
infections as a result of their healthcare each year by
2024
A major focus of the plan is to make sure current
antibiotics stay effective by reducing the number of
resistant infections and supporting clinicians to prescribe
appropriately.
New technology will also be used to gather real-time
patient data, helping clinicians understand when to use and
preserve antibiotics in their treatment. This could be
followed and adapted all over the world, building the
database on antibiotic use and resistance.
The plans cover animals and the environment as well as
human health. The government has committed to working with
vets and farmers to further reduce antibiotic use in
animals by 25% between 2016 and 2020, with objectives to be
refreshed by 2021.
The pharmaceutical industry will also be expected to take
more responsibility for antibiotic resistance. NICE and NHS
England will explore a new payment model that pays
pharmaceutical companies based on how valuable their
medicines are to the NHS, rather than on the quantity of
antibiotics sold.
Antibiotic resistance is predicted to kill 10 million
people every year by 2050 without action, as outlined in
the independent review
on antimicrobial resistance. Without effective
antibiotics, straightforward, everyday operations like
caesarean sections or hip replacements could become too
dangerous to perform.
Since 2014, the UK has cut the amount of antibiotics it
uses by more than 7% and sales of antibiotics for use in
food-producing animals have dropped by 40%. But the number
of drug-resistant bloodstream infections have increased by
35% from 2013 to 2017.
The national action plan and 20-year vision were developed
in close collaboration with the devolved UK
administrations.
Health and Social Care Secretary said:
Imagine a world without antibiotics. Where treatable
infections become untreatable, where routine surgery like
a hip operation becomes too risky to carry out, and where
every wound is potentially life-threatening. What would
go through your mind if your child cut their finger and
you knew there was no antibiotic left that could treat an
infection? This was the human condition until almost a
century ago. I don’t want it to be the future for my
children – yet it may be unless we act.
As Health Secretary, responsible for one of the most
advanced healthcare systems in the world, I could not
look my children in the eyes unless I knew I was doing
all in my power to solve this great threat. We have time
to act. But the urgency is now.
Each and every one of us benefits from antibiotics, but
we all too easily take them for granted, and I shudder at
the thought of a world in which their power is
diminished. Antimicrobial resistance is as big a danger
to humanity as climate change or warfare. That’s why we
need an urgent global response.
Prime Minister said:
The increase in antibiotic resistance is a threat we
cannot afford to ignore. It is vital that we tackle the
spread of drug-resistant infections before routine
operations and minor illnesses become life-threatening.
I am very proud of the UK’s global leadership on this
important agenda. We will continue to work with our
partners to drive international action that will protect
the health of future generations.
