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The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance has now completed its work. The content of this website is frozen as an archive of the Review’s work, and will not be updated further. The legacy of the Review will be maintained by its sponsor organisations, the Wellcome Trust and the UK Department of Health.

For queries about the legacy of the Review, or for media enquiries for the Review’s former chair, Jim O’Neill only, please contact, please contact info@amr-review.org.

“The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), was commissioned in July 2014 by the UK Prime Minister, who asked economist Jim O’Neill to analyse the global problem of rising drug resistance and propose concrete actions to tackle it internationally. The Review on AMR was jointly supported by the UK Government and Wellcome Trust, although operated with full independence from both. Established as a two-year, time-limited process, the Review engaged widely with international stakeholders to understand and propose solutions to the problem of drug-resistant infections from an economic and social perspective, and produced its final report and recommendations in the summer of 2016.

"If we fail to act, we are looking at an almost unthinkable scenario where antibiotics no longer work and we are cast back into the dark ages of medicine" – David Cameron, former UK Prime Minister

The real implications of spreading drug resistance will be felt the world over, with developing countries and large emerging nations bearing the brunt of this problem. Routine surgeries and minor infections will become life- threatening once again and the hard won victories against infectious diseases of the last fifty years will be jeopardised. Hospital stays and expenses, for both public health care providers and for out of –pocket payers will increase significantly. Drug resistant infections are already on the rise with numbers suggesting that up to 50,000 lives are lost each year to antibiotic-resistant infections in Europe and the US alone. Globally, at least 700,000 die each year of drug resistance in illnesses such as bacterial infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis.

“We have reached a critical point and must act now on a global scale to slow down antimicrobial resistance” – Professor Dame Sally Davies, UK Chief Medical Officer

May 19, 2016 – Tackling Drug-Resistant Infections Globally: final report and recommendations

This report outlines the Review’s final recommendations. It first discusses the mounting problem of resistance and why action is needed to combat it and then provides an overview of the solutions that the Review thinks should be implemented to curtail unnecessary use and increase the supply of new antimicrobials. It then looks at the role of public awareness campaigns, the need to improve sanitation and hygiene, reduce pollution from agriculture and the environment, improve global surveillance, introduce rapid diagnostics and vaccines, the need to increase the number of people in this area, and use of market entry rewards and an innovation fund to generate more drugs. Finally the paper examines how these solutions can be funded and looks at ways to build political consensus around them.

Supporting Documents

  • Commissioned study by Dr. Nimalan Arinaminpathy the impact of diagnostics and new treatments against TB main report.
  • Commissioned study by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), into the future of TB diagnostics main report.
  • Commissioned paper by ReAct-Action on Antibiotic Resistance Strategic Policy Program and Center for a Livable Future in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health main report.
  • Commissioned study by Katy Turner et al. into the impact of rapid diagnostics against gonorrhea main report and the model used.
  • Study by LSE Master’s in Public Administration students on the cost and benefit of WASH interventions in Brazil, India, Nigeria and Indonesia main report.
  • Commissioned study by NIHR Diagnostic Evidence Cooperative Oxford, into the future of diagnostics for antimicrobials main report.
  • Commissioned study by Pierre Nouvellet et al. into the impact of new drugs and better diagnostics in the treatment of E. Coli main report.

Translations of the introduction and executive summary are available in the following languages; Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish.