Overview
- Union Health Minister J. P. Nadda unveiled the 2025–29 plan that assigns responsibilities across 20+ ministries to expand surveillance, strengthen laboratories, tighten infection prevention, advance stewardship and regulation, and enable budget‑linked implementation.
- A multicentre study in The Lancet eClinicalMedicine reported multidrug‑resistant organism carriage in 83% of Indian ERCP patients—far higher than Italy (31%), the United States (20%) and the Netherlands (11%)—including 70.2% ESBL producers and 23.5% carbapenem‑resistant strains.
- ECDC’s 2024 EARS‑Net report shows the EU met its MRSA target but is off track for others, with third‑generation cephalosporin‑resistant E. coli up 5.9% since 2019 and carbapenem‑resistant K. pneumoniae up 61%, contributing to more than 35,000 AMR deaths annually in the EU/EEA.
- WHO data indicate antibiotic resistance is highest in Southeast Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean, with roughly one in three reported infections resistant, underscoring stark regional disparities.
- Experts cite over‑the‑counter access, self‑medication, agricultural and pharmaceutical effluent, and excessive antibacterial product use as key drivers, while regional steps such as Pakistan’s new national AMR priority pathogen list signal wider policy mobilization.