Antibiotic resistance, a silent but growing menace, is now at the forefront of global health concerns.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded a clear alarm with its latest Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report 2025, revealing a stark reality: one in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections worldwide in 2023 resisted standard antibiotic treatments.

The findings, drawn from surveillance data spanning over one hundred countries, highlight a trend that can no longer be ignored.

Between 2018 and 2023, resistance rose in more than 40 percent of the pathogen-antibiotic combinations monitored, with an annual increase averaging between five and fifteen percent—a trajectory that health experts warn could undermine decades of medical progress.

The data comes from the WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS), an initiative launched to gather timely, reliable information on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and usage patterns.

The implications are grave: patients face longer hospital stays, higher costs, and increased risk of complications or death

The new report marks a significant milestone by presenting resistance estimates across twenty-two antibiotics, covering urinary and gastrointestinal tract infections, bloodstream infections, and those used to treat gonorrhoea.

Eight common bacterial pathogens are under scrutiny: Acinetobacter species, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, non-typhoidal Salmonella species, Shigella species, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Each is a well-known culprit for infections that touch millions of lives across the globe.

Across continents, the threat varies in intensity but is universally concerning. WHO estimates indicate that antibiotic resistance reaches its highest levels in the South-East Asian and Eastern Mediterranean regions, where a staggering one in three reported infections was resistant.

In Africa, the rate stands at one in five. The situation is particularly dire in regions where health systems lack resources for accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of bacterial diseases.

Experts believe that limited access to modern diagnostics, quality medicines, and vaccines exacerbates the problem.

A closer look at the pathogens causing the greatest alarm reveals a worrying trend: gram-negative bacteria are becoming more dangerous and prevalent. These organisms—E. coli and K. pneumoniae especially—are increasingly responsible for severe bloodstream infections that often result in sepsis, organ failure, or death.

WHO estimates indicate that antibiotic resistance reaches its highest levels in the South-East Asian countries…

The report finds that over forty percent of E. coli and fifty-five percent of K. pneumoniae worldwide now resist third-generation cephalosporins, the preferred frontline treatment. In Africa, resistance rates surpass seventy percent. This means doctors are losing key weapons against some of the deadliest infections.

The issue extends beyond just cephalosporins. Essential antibiotics like carbapenems and fluoroquinolones are also losing their potency against these pathogens—E. coli, K. pneumoniae, Salmonella, and Acinetobacter among them.

Carbapenem resistance, previously rare, is increasingly reported, reducing treatment options to last-resort drugs that are expensive and often inaccessible in low- and middle-income countries.

The implications are grave: patients face longer hospital stays, higher costs, and increased risk of complications or death.

But amid these troubling statistics, there are glimmers of progress. Country participation in GLASS has surged more than four-fold since its inception in 2016—from just twenty-five countries to over one hundred by 2023.

This expansion reflects growing recognition among governments and policymakers of the urgent need to track AMR trends systematically. However, experts caution that nearly half of all countries did not report data to GLASS last year, and among those that did, many still lack robust surveillance systems capable of generating reliable insights.

The problem is not just technical but structural. Countries facing the greatest challenges from antibiotic resistance often also lack capacity for surveillance and response. Without reliable data, it becomes nearly impossible to tailor effective treatment guidelines or formulate essential medicines lists that reflect local resistance patterns.

A decisive moment came at the United Nations General Assembly in 2024 with the adoption of a political declaration on AMR. This document set ambitious targets to strengthen health systems and promote a ‘One Health’ approach—integrating human health with animal health and environmental stewardship—to address the complex drivers of resistance. Still, achieving these goals requires sustained commitment and investment.

WHO has called on all countries to report high-quality data on AMR and antimicrobial use to GLASS by 2030. Experts stress this will require concerted action to improve data quality, expand geographic coverage, and foster greater sharing of surveillance findings between nations and regions. Only with comprehensive data can the world assess progress accurately and adjust strategies as needed.

The report’s digital companion—the GLASS dashboard—offers expanded content including global and regional summaries, country profiles based on unadjusted surveillance coverage and AMR data, and detailed information on antimicrobial use. These tools are expected to help decision-makers visualise trends quickly and identify problem areas with greater precision.

What underpins this mounting crisis? Researchers point to several interconnected factors: overuse and misuse of antibiotics in human medicine; widespread use of antibiotics in agriculture; poor infection prevention and control; inadequate sanitation; and gaps in public awareness about when antibiotics are truly needed.

A significant barrier is the lack of rapid diagnostic tools at the point of care. When clinicians cannot quickly distinguish between bacterial and viral infections or identify the resistance profile of a pathogen, they often prescribe broad-spectrum antibiotics as a precautionary measure. This practice gives resistant bacteria more opportunities to thrive.

Experts argue that innovation must play an integral role in reversing current trends. Next-generation antibiotics are urgently needed—yet few are under development due to scientific challenges and limited commercial incentives. Rapid molecular tests capable of identifying resistant pathogens at the bedside could transform clinical decision-making but remain out of reach for most healthcare facilities.

Vaccines also offer hope. By preventing bacterial infections outright, they reduce the need for antibiotics and help slow the emergence of resistance. The success of pneumococcal vaccines in reducing invasive disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae is a case in point.

Ultimately, the fight against antibiotic resistance demands coordinated action at every level—from global institutions down to local clinics. Strengthening laboratory systems so that every country can generate reliable surveillance data is fundamental. Scaling up interventions designed to combat AMR—such as infection prevention programmes, antimicrobial stewardship initiatives, and public education campaigns—will be essential.

Healthcare workers need training in appropriate prescribing practices; patients must be empowered with accurate information; policymakers must support research into new diagnostics and treatments; manufacturers should ensure quality-assured medicines reach all who need them.

While progress has been made in building surveillance capacity globally, much work remains ahead. The stakes could hardly be higher—without effective antibiotics, routine surgeries become risky; cancer chemotherapy carries greater dangers; even minor injuries could turn deadly.

It is a sobering prospect but not an inevitable one. With determination and cooperation across sectors—human health, animal health, environment—the world can slow or even reverse the tide of antibiotic resistance. Doing so will require both immediate actions—using antibiotics prudently—and long-term investments in research, infrastructure, and education.

The WHO’s latest report is both a warning and a call to action. Antibiotic resistance is outpacing advances in medicine today but need not dictate tomorrow’s outcomes.

By strengthening systems to prevent, diagnose and treat infections—and by innovating to bring new antibiotics and diagnostics to market—the international community can protect families everywhere from the growing threat of untreatable infection.