AMR Deaths Will Continue to Rise Without Urgent Action, Experts Warn

By Ojoma Akor

ABUJA, Nigeria — Health experts have warned that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will continue to claim more lives in Nigeria and globally unless urgent action is taken to tackle it and strengthen the country’s response to drug-resistant infections.

The warning was issued during a two-day capacity-building workshop on antimicrobial resistance reporting for members of the Nigeria AMR Media Alliance (NAMA), organized by the Antibiotic Stewardship Education for Pharmacists (ASTEP) Project of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN).

Speaking at the training, Dr. Giorgia Sulis, Canada Research Chair in Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Co-Principal Investigator of the ASTEP Project, said antimicrobial resistance has already become a major public health emergency rather than a future threat.

“Without action, AMR-associated deaths are expected to keep rising,” Sulis said.

She said that Nigeria is among the countries hardest hit by antimicrobial resistance, ranking 20th out of 204 countries for AMR-related mortality and seventh in sub-Saharan Africa.

She said an estimated 50,500 deaths were directly attributable to antimicrobial resistance in Nigeria in 2021, while 227,000 deaths were associated with AMR during the same period.

Sulis noted that the burden is likely underestimated, adding that drug-resistant infections are already causing substantial illness and death across the country.

Quoting the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, she said globally nearly 5 million deaths were associated with bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019, with almost 20 percent occurring among children under five. Sub-Saharan Africa recorded the highest burden.

“AMR is already causing substantial illness and death worldwide—it is not a problem of tomorrow,” she said.

According to Sulis, antimicrobial resistance occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites survive exposure to medicines designed to kill them or stop their growth.

She explained that as resistance increases, treatments become less effective, infections become harder to cure, healthcare costs rise, and the risk of severe illness, complications and death grows.

“Antibiotic resistance is the most common and best-known form of antimicrobial resistance, and it threatens many of the medical advances made possible by antibiotics,” she added.

Also speaking, Charity Oga-Omenka, Assistant Professor at the School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, and Principal Investigator of the ASTEP Project, said that antimicrobial resistance extends beyond hospitals because resistant bacteria circulate among humans, animals, and the environment.

“The overuse of antibiotics in healthcare, farming and livestock production accelerates resistance. A coordinated One Health approach is essential to preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics,” Oga-Omenka said.

She observed that Nigeria still faces significant challenges in implementing its antimicrobial resistance strategy.

According to her, Nigeria’s first National Action Plan on AMR (2017–2022) achieved only 44 percent implementation, highlighting persistent gaps in coordination and delivery that the second National Action Plan (2024–2028) must address.

“Weak involvement from the environment, plant, food and aquaculture sectors has limited a truly integrated One Health response,” she said. “Nigeria needs stronger governance, better accountability, sustained financing, equitable access to AMR countermeasures, and greater community and civil society engagement to reverse the growing threat.”

The experts urged journalists to play a more active role in educating the public, holding institutions accountable and promoting responsible antimicrobial use through accurate, evidence-based reporting.

The two-day workshop equipped members of the Nigeria AMR Media Alliance with the knowledge and skills needed to report effectively on one of the world’s fastest-growing public health threats, while supporting Nigeria’s efforts to preserve the effectiveness of life-saving antibiotics for future generations.