Antimicrobial resistance has become one of the world’s most significant health threats.

Delegates expected to address seriousness of the situation

A high-level meeting on antimicrobial resistance will be held in New York this week as part of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Global leaders will meet tomorrow (21 September) to commit to fighting antimicrobial disease together.

It is only the fourth time in the history of the UN that a health topic has been discussed at the General Assembly. The others were HIV, Ebola and non-communicable diseases.

Speaking to Scientific American, Keiji Fukada - a special representative of the WHO Director General for Antimicrobial Resistance - said the meeting is designed to elevate the discourse on antibiotic resistance and signal it as high priority.

“The previous discussions have been held at the level of ministers of health and agriculture, but this meeting will take this up to the level of Prime Ministers and Presidents,” he said.

Antimicrobial resistance has become one of the world’s most significant health threats, endangering other major priorities like human development. Across the globe, many common infections are growing resistant to the antibiotics used to treat them, resulting in prolonged illness and increased deaths.

Earlier this year, scientists detected resistance to a last-line antibiotic called colistin in animals and human beings in China. The resistant gene was found on a plasmid - a DNA strand that can be easily transferred between different strains of bacteria.

At tomorrow’s meeting, delegates are expected to address the seriousness and scope of antimicrobial resistance and to agree on sustainable, multi-sectoral approaches to addressing the situation.