The future of antibiotic stewardship: managing access and excess

We are one year into the global COVID-19 pandemic. What if you could have done something to contribute to the prevention of COVID-19 would you have done it? I think every person would say YES! You now have an opportunity to make a meaningful difference to stop a global slow moving pandemic called antibiotic or antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Unlike COVID-19 that hit hard and fast, AMR has been occurring slowly over several years. AMR didn’t hit hard and fast yet 700,000 people worldwide die from AMR infections each year. If we stay the course experts predict 10 million people will die from AMR by 2050. AMR undermines the whole the medicine. AMR needs a grass roots effort to move the needle with respect to preserving antibiotics for our children’s children. We must learn how to use antibiotics in humans and animals in a way that doesn’t worsen AMR. COVID-19 showed we know how to react quickly to an infectious disease. We must band together globally and have move quickly to slowdown AMR.