Antibiotic resistance, Kyriakides calls for responsible use culture

Brussels – The numbers have not changed. There is no news, then. Worse, there is no good news—because the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance persists and continues to be a problem that the European Commission intends to solve. The Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, ahead of the European Antibiotic Awareness Day, wants to keep the focus on what is the real scourge of the contemporary era.

“Antimicrobial resistance is one of the greatest threats to the health of our times, with an unacceptably high human cost,” Kyriakides points out. “It is responsible for about 35 thousand deaths each year in the European Economic Area area,”—meaning the EU countries plus Iceland, Norway, and Lichtenstein—of about 4.95 million deaths globally, and “without urgent action, it could cause nearly 40 million deaths worldwide by 2050.”

The underlying problem is cultural and related to misuse of the drug. Using antibiotics when it is not strictly necessary leads the human body to develop resistance to the drug itself, which, in the moment of need, ceases to take effect. This means that it is basically as if one does not get treatment in case of illness. This is the reason for the many, too many premature deaths, all of them preventable. A silent massacre of ever-increasing magnitude, since in the last decade, the casualties from antimicrobial resistance have grown. Kyriakides speaks of about 35 thousand deaths a year whereas in 2014, ten years ago, figures indicated 25 thousand deaths.

“The fight against antibiotic resistance is not just a matter of policy and investment, as crucial as they are,” Kyriakides stresses, calling on civil society to think about “the responsible use, for ourselves and our children, of antibiotics, as well as basic hygiene measures and infection prevention.” The key to responding to this challenge is by raising awareness, such as the European Day aimed explicitly at and dedicated to the issue. “Together, by raising awareness and making informed choices, each of us can help reduce the rise and impact of antimicrobial resistance.”

The EU is determined to do its part. The goal, recalls the Health Commissioner, is “to lead efforts for a UN commitment to reduce global deaths related to antimicrobial resistance by 10 per cent by 2030. An international commitment that, if fulfilled, would mean saving the lives of 495,000 people.