By Staff Reporter
A sobering new study unveiled Sunday at ESCMID Global 2025 revealed that over 3 million children worldwide died in 2022 due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR)-related infections with nearly 660,000 of those deaths occurring in Africa alone.
The findings, presented by researchers from the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and global partners, highlight the devastating impact of AMR on the world’s youngest children and most vulnerable, placing Africa firmly among the hardest-hit regions.
Children in Africa are bearing the brunt of this growing crisis,” said Professor Joseph Harwell, Senior Clinical Director at CHAI and co-author of the study.
“Without immediate, coordinated action to improve surveillance, access to pediatric-appropriate antibiotics, and stewardship programs, we risk losing an entire generation to infections we can no longer treat.”
The study identifies two major culprits in the rise of AMR deaths: the overuse of Watch antibiotics — drugs considered to have a high risk of resistance — and Reserve antibiotics, which are last-line treatments for multidrug-resistant infections. Between 2019 and 2021, the use of Watch antibiotics in Africa rose by 126 percent, while Reserve antibiotic use surged by a staggering 125 percent.
Such trends are driven by a lack of rapid diagnostic tools, poor sanitation, overcrowded hospitals, and limited oversight on antibiotic prescriptions, challenges that are particularly acute in low- and middle-income African countries, according to the researchers.
Though countries like Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, and Tanzania have made strides in strengthening national AMR policies and surveillance systems, the study warns that these efforts remain fragmented and under-resourced.
Professor Harwell emphasized that tackling AMR in Africa will require the adoption of a continent-wide “One Health” approach — one that connects human health with animal and environmental systems — and the development of cost-effective surveillance infrastructure tailored to local realities.
He also called on African governments to mandate hospital-based antimicrobial stewardship programs in all pediatric healthcare facilities and improve age-specific data classification to better understand resistance patterns in children.
“Children have long been sidelined in global health discussions, despite their heightened vulnerability to infections,” said Harwell. “Africa has the opportunity to lead in changing that narrative — but it must act now.”
CHAI, a founding partner of the WHO’s Global Accelerator for Paediatric formulations (GAP-f), says they continue to push for greater access to child-friendly antibiotics and diagnostics.
