Context: According to a Lancet Infectious Diseases study, only 8% of bacterial infections in India in 2019 were treated appropriately.
About Bacterial Infections in India:
- What Are Bacterial Infections?
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- Caused by harmful bacteria entering the body, often leading to illnesses such as pneumonia, bloodstream infections, or urinary tract infections.
- Require timely and correct antibiotic treatment for full recovery.
- Alarming Data from India (2019)
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- Total estimated bacterial infections: ~15 lakh
- Resistant to Carbapenems: Majority of cases involved strains resistant to one of the last-resort antibiotics.
- Courses procured: Just over 1 lakh and India accounted for 80.5% (83,468 courses).
- Appropriate treatment given: Only 7.8% of infections in India received suitable antibiotics.
- Consequences of Inadequate Treatment:
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- Increases drug resistance, mortality, and economic burden.
- Over 1.1 million deaths globally per year now directly attributed to AMR, surpassing HIV/AIDS and malaria combined.
- Without intervention, 40 million deaths are projected globally by 2050 due to AMR.
Relevance in UPSC Exam Syllabus:
- GS Paper 2 – Governance & Social Justice:
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- Health policy, public healthcare delivery, and government interventions in managing AMR.
- GS Paper 3 – Science and Technology:
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- Antibiotic resistance, biotechnology in healthcare, and public health infrastructure.
- Disaster management (biological hazard preparedness).
- Essay Paper:
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- Can be used as a case example under topics like “Health systems in crisis” or “Ethics and Equity in Global Health.”
