By Lydia Rollinson, Account Director at Incisive Health
The past few years have been hugely turbulent for many global health challenges, including antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
2025 marks the 10-year anniversary of the nexus of global action on AMR: the instigation of the AMR review and a commitment to hosting the first UN High-Level Meeting on AMR. Despite the huge investment and optimism that accompanied that moment, little progress has been made in the subsequent decade. Many crucially needed antibiotics remain stuck in development limbo and governments around the world are reducing funding for global health initiatives, all while the impact of AMR grows. What is becoming clearer too is the evidence that AMR is not just an urgent health issue but an economic and social one.
To ignite action and unlock ambition and leadership on AMR, more attention needs to be given to the severe economic and social threat it poses. Only by taking a joined-up cross-governmental approach will we be able to stop superbugs for good.
10 years of decline
Despite the collective optimism of 2015 and a second UN High-Level Meeting on AMR being held last year, almost all major donors are retreating from commitments on global health, turning inwards and focusing budgets on domestic priorities.
A major casualty has been the Fleming Fund, a UK Government initiative set up to increase support for tackling AMR in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The fund was the world’s largest investment in AMR action and has been widely considered as very successful in helping countries across Africa and Asia tackle AMR. As with all cuts to international aid, it is these lower-income countries that face the greatest impact - in this case to their ability to prevent and treat drug-resistant infections.
As well as a crisis in support for global AMR action, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been signalling strongly that the innovation pipeline for antibiotics as well as diagnostics is far below what is required to stop superbugs. It is estimated that 10 new antibiotic classes are required each decade if we are to tackle drug resistance effectively, but we haven’t had a new class of antibiotics since the 1960s. Antibiotics face a unique challenge of having huge societal value, yet low returns on investment due to complex prescription protections and wide accessibility needs. This complicated landscape and lack of government investment leaves the market broken and in desperate need of innovative financing interventions.
A global economy bolstered by AMR action
The evidence of the threat posed by AMR continues to grow, particularly in both the existing and projected economic impact.
A recent report noted the global economy will be $1.7tn smaller by 2050 due to AMR, with the UK, EU and US economies among the hardest hit. Higher rates of resistant infections picked up in hospital are predicted to shrink the UK, EU and US workforces by 0.8%, 0.6% and 0.4% respectively.
Conversely by tackling superbugs, the US economy could grow $156.2bn a year and the UK $12bn by 2050. It is not just high-income countries that stand to benefit, in fact LMICs are projected to reap the most in terms of GDP proportional growth. With governments across the globe desperately searching for new opportunities to drive economic growth, these numbers are unignorable and potentially the key to driving national level action.
The macroeconomic opportunities and costs are massively underutilised in making the argument for action and stakeholders working to ensure the prioritisation of AMR on the political agenda should look to deploy them more – speaking not only with ministries for health, but also those responsible for economic growth and employment.
The path back to optimism
There are some glimmers of positivity on the horizon including member states committing to reducing deaths from AMR by 10% by 2030 at last year’s UN High-Level Meeting on AMR. Similarly, the Council of the EU adopted a recommendation to step up actions to combat AMR, including a European Commission support of an EU-wide multi-country pull incentive scheme to stimulate antimicrobial innovation and access. Several pharmaceutical companies are also on the cusp of bringing new classes of antibiotics to market, though this still falls short of the predicted requirement.
These actions must be united under a meaningful global strategy that ensures global access to innovation and supports all countries to stem infections that have no respect for national borders. The economic and social case for AMR action can generate cross-government buy-in, giving us the best chance of cutting through the current health funding crisis and convincing leaders of the self-interest that action on AMR really is. We have seen success like this elsewhere, particularly with non-communicable diseases, where governments have had to face up to the impact on the workforce and are prioritising preventative action accordingly. If we can change the frame on AMR, we can chart a path towards 2015 levels of optimism and action matched with consistent, effective action to stop superbugs for good.