Overview

• The new WHO global surveillance report, drawing on GLASS data, finds that 1 in 6 laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections in 2023 did not respond to standard antibiotics across eight priority pathogens and 22 medicines.
• From 2018 to 2023, resistance increased in more than 40% of monitored pathogen–antibiotic pairs, with average annual rises between 5% and 15%.
• Gram-negative threats are escalating as over 40% of E. coli and more than 55% of Klebsiella pneumoniae infections are resistant to third-generation cephalosporins globally, surpassing 70% in parts of Africa, with carbapenems and fluoroquinolones losing effectiveness.
• Regional burdens are highest in South‑East Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, where about one in three reported infections were resistant, and substantial in Africa at roughly one in five.
• Surveillance gaps persist with 48% of countries not reporting to GLASS in 2023, prompting WHO calls for high-quality data by 2030, broader access to diagnostics and next-generation antibiotics, and action as AMR directly causes over 1 million deaths annually.