The World Health Organisation (WHO) has urged governments, health professionals, policymakers and the public to intensify efforts to prevent the growing global health threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) adding that it causes about one million deaths annually.
Acting Director, AMR Department at WHO headquarters, Dr. Jean-Pierre Nyemazi, gave the warning during a press conference organised to mark the exhibition, “AMR: The Human Stories Behind a Silent Pandemic,” on Wednesday.
The exhibition, organised by the WHO and Member of the European Parliament, Hon. Martin Häusling is running from September 28 to October 2, 2026, and features personal stories of people affected by antimicrobial resistance across Europe.
Nyemazi said AMR was no longer an abstract technical issue, stressing that drug-resistant pathogens were affecting people, animals, food systems, economies and the environment.
“One million people die every year due to drug-resistant bacteria alone that is, two people every minute die of bacterial AMR,” he said.
He noted that resistant pathogens could move across sectors and national borders, including between animals and humans, making a One Health approach essential to tackling the problem.
According to him, preventing infections through vaccination, infection prevention and control, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), improved animal husbandry and responsible use of antimicrobials are among measures that can significantly reduce AMR.
He said strengthening surveillance, improving access to quality medicines and diagnostics and reducing environmental contamination were also critical.
“The tools exist and the evidence is there, but the cost of inaction is rising. The longer we delay action, the higher the cost becomes,” Nyemazi said.
Also speaking, Häusling warned against the excessive use of antibiotics in food-producing animals, particularly the practice of administering antibiotics to entire groups of animals when only some are sick.
He said the use of broad-spectrum and last-resort antibiotics in agriculture was contributing to the development and spread of drug-resistant pathogens.
According to him, wastewater from facilities such as slaughterhouses could also carry resistant pathogens into the environment, exposing people who may have no knowledge of the contamination.
He called for an end to unnecessary and prophylactic antibiotic treatment, stressing the need to determine the specific infection and appropriate medicine before treatment.
Häusling said greater public awareness was needed to ensure that AMR received adequate attention from parliamentarians and policymakers.
According to him, the European Parliament exhibition was designed to demonstrate that AMR could affect anyone and was capable of devastating families and livelihoods.
The human cost of AMR was highlighted by Rob Purdie, an AMR survivor and member of the WHO Task Force of AMR Survivors, who shared his 13-year battle with an antifungal-resistant infection.
Purdie said his illness began in 2012 with what initially appeared to be a headache and sinus infection. After receiving antibiotics and being diagnosed with other conditions without adequate diagnostics, he was eventually diagnosed with fungal meningitis.
He said his treatment involved several antifungal medicines, some of which failed to control the infection, while others produced severe side effects.
Purdie said the illness resulted in approximately $250,000 in hospital costs and left him unable to work for about five years, significantly affecting his family’s financial stability.
He said he continues to take antifungal medication and may need to do so for the rest of his life because the infection cannot currently be cured.
Purdie urged stakeholders to stop treating AMR as a “silent” pandemic, saying survivors and affected families should have a stronger voice in the global response.
“AMR crosses all lines; socioeconomic, geographic, cultural and political and it will take an effort that also does the same in order to address AMR,” he said.
Responding to questions on the widespread availability of antibiotics without prescriptions in some countries, Nyemazi said governments must strengthen primary healthcare systems so patients could obtain timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment.
He also called for stronger enforcement of regulations prohibiting the dispensing of reserve antibiotics without prescriptions.
According to him, public education is equally important because people sometimes go directly to pharmacies and demand antibiotics without seeking proper medical attention.
He advocated the use of digital technology to track the dispensing of antibiotics and enable authorities to determine whether medicines were supplied for legitimate clinical purposes.
“There’s no single solution,” he said, stressing that governments, health workers, pharmacies, civil society, the private sector and the public all have roles to play.
Nyemazi also highlighted the updated WHO Global Action Plan on AMR, approved by WHO Member States at the 2026 World Health Assembly, saying it provides a framework for the next decade.
He said the new plan places greater emphasis on prevention, governance, behavioural change and measurable targets while adopting a stronger multi-sectoral One Health approach involving the WHO, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
