Antimicrobial resistance—a threat to the world’s sustainable development

Abstract

This commentary examines how specific sustainable development goals (SDGs) are affected by antimicrobial resistance and suggests how the issue can be better integrated into international policy processes. Moving beyond the importance of effective antibiotics for the treatment of acute infections and health care generally, we discuss how antimicrobial resistance also impacts on environmental, social, and economic targets in the SDG framework. The paper stresses the need for greater international collaboration and accountability distribution, and suggests steps towards a broader engagement of countries and United Nations agencies to foster global intersectoral action on antimicrobial resistance.

Keywords:

• Antibiotic resistance
• antimicrobial resistance
• sustainable development
• sustainable development goals

Acknowledgements

A first version of this paper with a limited selection of references has been published as a Development Dialogue Paper, by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Uppsala, Sweden (http://www.daghammarskjold.se/publication/antimicrobial-resistance-threat-worlds-sustainable-development/).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Funding information

The authors declare no specific funding for this article.