World Health Day focus on drug-resistant microbes

Antibiotics are one of the great medical achievements of the 20^th Century. Antibiotics have saved millions of lives, and turned many once life-threatening infections into something easily cured by a trip to the doctor’s office. But antibiotics can spur infection-causing bacteria to become drug-resistant if they are overused, and new drugs are not be developed fast enough to replace the ones being made obsolete.

The World Health Organization is using World Health Day, which is celebrated on April 7^th, to call for urgent action to tackle the problem.

Various proposals are being made, which include urging doctors not to overprescribe antibiotics, and calling on governments to over incentives to drug companies and researchers to come up with new ways to help fight drug-resistant microbes.

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