Book by the South Centre, 2018

When Medicines Don’t Work Anymore

 

About the Book:

Antibiotic resistance, now widened to be called antimicrobial resistance, is the world’s greatest public health risk and threat. We are now so used to using antibiotics that it is almost unthinkable what would happen to our state of health if there were none available. Or if the antibiotics don’t work anymore.

Health leaders are sounding the alarm bell. The Chief Medical Officer of the United Kingdom has warned of a looming “catastrophe” so widespread that we would be back to a pre-antibiotic era when many diseases could not be treated. The World Health Organisation’s then Director General has said the world is heading towards a post-antibiotics era in which common infections such as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill. It may even bring the end of modern medicine. And heads of states and governments in 2016 adopted a landmark Political Declaration recognising that antibiotic resistance is the “greatest and most urgent global risk”.

This book is a collection of articles written over two decades, tracing the antimicrobial resistance problem as it evolved through the years into a full blown crisis. It also contains the author’s speaking notes at the UN General Assembly summit-level special event on AMR. It provides news and opinions in popular language on various aspects of AMR, as the problem emerged and then developed into the present day public health catastrophe.

Author: Martin Khor is the Executive Director of the South Centre.

Download Book


This article was tagged: , ,
0

Your Cart