The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Climate change and drug resistance: a dangerous alliance

2022-04-05T03:37:44.101Z


Two years into the pandemic, the global community has little interest in tackling the problem of drug-resistant pathogens. But highlighting the links of this phenomenon with global warming and conflict could encourage world leaders to reconsider their priorities.


Climate change is not the only slow-onset crisis to reach a tipping point due to corporate greed, individual misbehavior, deadlocked international negotiations, and a prolonged lack of sense of urgency on the part of the public and governments. political leaders.

Those same factors have also contributed to a dramatic increase in antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The magnitude of the threat to human health posed by antimicrobial resistance can hardly be overstated.

The loss of potency or efficacy of antibiotics already contributes to almost 1.2 million deaths annually.

This figure exceeds that of those caused by HIV or malaria.

Some academics have pointed out the similarity between the difficulties in tackling climate change and antimicrobial resistance.

So far, however, there has been little discussion of the damage caused by the two crises together.

Climate change forces people to move to places with high population density, increased poverty and limited sanitation facilities

Around the world, people living in urban slums face the combined challenges of climate-related pressures and medicines that no longer work.

Even when there is no government control of drug-resistant infections, local doctors in these communities are aware of the problem.

Resistant strains of bacteria thrive in these areas due to the widespread availability of low-quality drugs, the overuse of antibiotics, and the confluence of sewage and drinking water.

Some reports suggest that climate change is leading to changes in disease dynamics and drug resistance.

While more research is needed to make the connection, it is already clear that global warming is forcing people to move to places with high population density, increased poverty, and limited sanitation facilities.

These environments are ideal for drug-resistant infections to emerge.

In fact, some of the most serious outbreaks in recent times have emerged in low-income, polluted urban settings in South Asia.

It is no coincidence that poor communities bear the most devastating effects of climate change, or that drug-resistant infections are likely to disproportionately affect lower-income groups.

But climate change is not the only global problem contributing to the growth of AMR in disadvantaged communities.

While there is some (albeit limited) evidence of a correlation between climate change and conflict, the link between conflict and drug-resistant infections is well established.

The conflict overwhelms hospitals and makes treatment inaccessible.

It also poisons the environment and allows new strains of bacteria to breed.

Communities in conflict zones are at high risk of infection and have a low probability of receiving appropriate antibiotics.

Microorganisms like

Iraqibacter

, which emerged after the second Gulf War, are a reminder that conflict remains a powerful and underappreciated driver of multidrug-resistant infections.

Once again, its effects are felt more by those who are vulnerable and cannot move to a safer place.

Communities in conflict zones are at high risk of infection and have a low probability of receiving appropriate antibiotics

If there is reason to believe that climate change and conflict are linked, it can be safely assumed that communities affected by these crises will also be affected by a disproportionate burden of antimicrobial resistance.

As with climate change and conflict, those most at risk from antibiotic resistance are rarely part of the discussion about how to deal with it.

Action plans drawn up in world capitals are out of touch with realities on the ground.

For example, small farmers in Pakistan are aware that most of the available antibiotics are no longer useful for their livestock or poultry, but they don't know what to do about it.

And the authorities make no effort to involve them in developing a workable solution.

With few options, these farmers continue to increase the doses they administer or create their own medical cocktails from available drugs.

There has long been a need for a truly global effort on antimicrobial resistance, one that is fully funded and supported by policymakers at all levels.

Recent studies provide the necessary data to bring the issue to the forefront of international debate.

But after two years of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, there seems to be little interest in tackling another global health crisis.

Perhaps one way to advance the fight against antibiotic resistance is to stop talking only about pathogens, and also raise awareness of their combined effects of climate change and conflict, both on people and the planet.

The convergence of these crises poses a major threat to the health of both.

Hamid Zaman

, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and International Health at Boston University, is the author of

Biography of Resistance: The Epic Battle between People and Pathogens

(Harper Wave, 2020). 


Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2022. Translation from English: Rocío L. Barrientos

You can follow PLANETA FUTURO on

Twitter

,

Facebook

and

Instagram

, and subscribe

to our 'newsletter'

here

.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2022-04-05

You may like

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-27T16:45:54.081Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.