Latest official data raise serious concerns
The latest official data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is deeply alarming: four in every 10 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) are no longer responding to antibiotic treatment. The scale and severity of this health threat—revealed after a surveillance of 96,477 patients between July 2024 and June 2025 by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR)—highlight serious shortcomings and a stark lack of prioritisation in our response. Even more concerning is the finding that multidrug-resistant pathogens in ICUs have reached a prevalence of 89 percent. There is little doubt that any extrapolation of these data to the national level, covering millions of patients, would paint an even grimmer picture.
According to our report on the latest survey, overuse and misuse of antibiotics have significantly reduced their efficacy. This persists despite laws restricting the sale of antibiotics without a prescription. Experts also warn about the sporadic use of antibiotics in poultry, fisheries, and agriculture—practices that introduce resistant bacteria into the food chain and ultimately harm the population. The cumulative effect of these can be understood from another recent survey by icddr,b that revealed widespread colonisation with drug-resistant pathogens in both communities and hospitals, with newborns being particularly vulnerable. In neonatal ICUs, 81 percent of newborns were colonised with carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, most of them acquiring it after 48 hours in hospital.
The IEDCR surveillance report notes that the use of "watch group" antibiotics—meant to be prescribed only when first-line drugs fail—has risen from 77 percent to 91 percent. These troubling trends indicate that the five-year National Strategy and Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance Containment in Bangladesh, adopted in 2023, has not been fully implemented or is facing significant shortcomings. At the very least, public awareness campaigns about the dangers of antibiotic misuse have not achieved the desired impact.
It bears recalling that the World Health Organization's "One Health" strategy, which requires coordinated action across human, animal, and environmental health sectors, demands close cooperation among all relevant agencies. Effective enforcement of drug administration laws in hospitals, clinics, and pharmacies, as well as in food production, along with ensuring proper waste management, hygiene, and sanitation in public spaces, is crucial for meaningful progress.
The latest IEDCR data emphasises the urgent need for the government and medical professional bodies to review the national AMR containment strategy, identify its weaknesses, and intensify their efforts to prevent further escalation of the crisis. Failure to act decisively will lead to more severe illnesses, longer hospital stays, preventable deaths, increased healthcare costs, and substantial losses in productivity.
