Daijiworld Media Network - Vienna

Vienna, Apr 13: A new study presented at the ‘ESCMID Global 2025’ event has revealed a sobering statistic – more than three million children lost their lives worldwide in 2022 due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR)-related infections. This landmark study emphasizes the urgent need for global and regional strategies to tackle paediatric AMR, particularly in high-burden regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa.

The data underscores the vulnerability of children to infections, particularly in the context of AMR, as they often have limited access to new antibiotic formulations due to delays in product development. In 2022 alone, over 752,000 children in Southeast Asia and 659,000 children in Africa died as a result of AMR complications.

Many of these deaths were linked to the misuse of "Watch" antibiotics—drugs that carry a high risk of resistance and "Reserve" antibiotics, which are last-resort treatments for severe, multidrug-resistant infections. Researchers emphasize that these drugs should not be used as first-line treatments and should be reserved for severe cases in order to preserve their effectiveness.

Between 2019 and 2021, the use of Watch antibiotics increased by 160 percent in Southeast Asia and 126 percent in Africa, while the use of Reserve antibiotics rose by 45 percent in Southeast Asia and 125 percent in Africa. Of the more than three million child deaths, two million were linked to the use of these antibiotics.

Professor Joseph Harwell, the study's co-author, expressed concern about the sharp rise in the use of these antibiotics, particularly without careful oversight. He warned that this increased use could elevate the risk of resistance, limiting future treatment options for multidrug-resistant infections.

In low- and middle-income countries, factors such as overcrowded hospitals, poor sanitation, and weak infection prevention measures contribute to the spread of resistant pathogens. Additionally, the lack of effective national surveillance and antimicrobial stewardship programs makes it difficult to track resistance trends and develop appropriate treatment protocols.

Professor Harwell concluded that rising resistance to Watch and Reserve antibiotics will ultimately lead to higher treatment failures, stressing that addressing this growing problem requires urgent and coordinated action at both regional and global levels.