Over three million children died in 2022 due to drug resistance: Study | Health News

The deaths are linked to antimicrobial resistance infections due to overuse or misuse of some medications.

More than three million children, many of them from Southeast Asia and Africa, are believed to have lost their lives in 2022 due to infections that are resistant to antibiotics, according to a new research.

“The study underscores the urgent need for both regional and global strategies to combat pediatric AMR,” the report released in Austria on Sunday said, referring to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) infections.

“AMR poses a critical threat to children, who are highly vulnerable to infections.”

In the report, the scientific group ESCMID said more than 752,000 children in Southeast Asia and 659,000 in Africa died due to complications linked to the infections.

More than 1.5 million deaths were recorded in other regions of the world.

Professor Joseph Harwell, co-author of the study from the Clinton Health Access Initiative, explained that due to the overuse or misuse of some medications, some bacteria have evolved, becoming more resistant to some antibiotics.

“If bacteria develop resistance to these antibiotics, there will be few, if any, alternatives for treating multidrug-resistance infections,” Harwell said.

He said the rise in the use of some types of antibiotics presents “several serious long-term risks”, especially among children.

Of the estimated three million child deaths in 2022, two million have been associated with the use of Watch and Reserve antibiotics.

Watch antibiotics are those considered as drugs with a high risk of resistance, while reserve antibiotics are those considered as last-line treatments for serious and multidrug-resistant infections.

Both antibiotics are not intended for first-line treatment, but their use has increased exponentially in Asia and Africa.

Several factors contribute to the severity of antibiotic-resistant infections in low- and middle-income countries, including overcrowded hospitals, poor sanitation, and weak infection prevention measures, the study said.

The lack of effective surveillance in those countries also makes it difficult to track resistance trends and establish effective treatment protocols, it added.

“Addressing this issue requires urgent and coordinated action at both regional and global levels,” the study added.