AMR Davos Compact 2025

1 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most pressing global public health a nd development threats of our time. It already kills more than a million people globally every year, and affects countries across all regions and income levels, with its drivers and consequences exacerbated by poverty and inequality, making low - and middle- income countries (LMICs) the most vulnerable.1 AMR jeopardizes many of the advancements of modern medicine, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risks associated with medical procedures such as surgeries and cancer treatments. AMR also undermines the global agri -food system, leading to high er disease prevalence and mortality rates among animals, which in turn decreases productivity and increases costs for farmers. Against this background, the environment plays a crucial role in the development and spread of resistant micro -organisms.2 The problem of AMR is exacerbated by two compounding trends. On the one hand, micr o-organisms are exposed to increasing opportunities to develop resistance to existing treatments given the growing use of antimicrobials (such as antibiotics) in our societies and economies. On the other hand, humankind’s capacity to develop new, effective treatments is diminishing because the market for innovative anti microbials is broken. Physicians rightly reserve new t reatments as last -resort measures to prevent resistance, but this practice limits the return on investment for anti microbial research and development ( R&D). The result is that we already face a pipeline and access crisis, with an inadequate R&D pipeline and an urgent need for additional measures to ensure equitable but appropriate access to, and use of, new and existing medicines, diagnostics and vaccines.3 The return on public investments to control AMR could be enormous. Between 2025 and 2050, AMR is predicted to directly cause over 39 million deaths and be associated with a broader 169 million deaths. Under an alternative scenario in which new anti biotics are developed for g ram- negative bacteria, 11.1 million AMR deaths would be averted by 2050. Under a complementary scenario with better health -care quality for infectious syndromes and improved access to antibiotics, an additional 92 million deaths would be averted by 2050.4 From an economic perspective, the implementation of these two scenarios would mean that by 2050 , health costs could be $97 billion cheaper , the economy could be $960 billion larger , and g enerated health benefits could be worth $680 billion to countries. Given that i mproving innovation and access to high quality treatment would cost about $63 billion per year, the global return on investment would be a staggering 28:1.5 From government commitments to sustainable financing Governments have pledged to take urgent action to address AMR in recent years. At the United Nations General Assembly High -Level Meeting on AMR in September 2024, all UN Member States adopted a Political Declaration where they committed “to scale up action to be commensurate with Davos Compact on Antimicrobial Resistance 2025