Resistance to antimicrobial medicines, such as antibiotics, has become a global health crisis, complicating the treatment of bacterial infections and endangering lives around the world.
Putting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in context
The ability of all types of microbes (bacteria, viruses, parasites, and others) to survive medicines used against them is called antimicrobial resistance. In the case of bacterial pathogens, for which antibiotics are the most important drugs used in treatment, we speak of antibiotic resistance.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is increasing at alarming rates in countries with failing health systems and poor sanitation, and especially in regions at war. Without urgent action, simple cuts and many diseases could once again become deadly since today’s medicines will no longer work against them. At Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) we are finding more and more AMR infections—in patients ranging from victims of war wounds or burns to severely malnourished children and even newborns—and are expanding our activities to prevent and treat them.