Urgent global superbug awareness campaign recommended by new review

A new global review has called for a worldwide awareness campaign to be launched to educate the public on the threat posed by superbugs.

The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance has warned that ten million people could die every year from antibiotic-resistant infections by 2050, equivalent to a death every three seconds. Drug-resistant E. coli, malaria and tuberculosis have been predicted to cause the biggest impact.

The financial cost to economies will come to 70 trillion pounds, underlining the need for a global awareness initiative to educate a public that remains largely ignorant of the risk of superbugs.

Other important steps include setting up a Global Innovation Fund to support early-stage research, providing improved access to clean water, sanitation and cleaner hospitals, and reducing unnecessary antibiotic use in agriculture wherever possible.

Improved surveillance of the spread of drug resistance and bonus payments for companies that discover new antibiotic treatments have also been suggested, as well as promoting the use of vaccines and alternatives to drugs.

Lord Jim O'Neill, the economist who led the global review, told BBC News: "We have made some pretty challenging recommendations which require everybody to get out of the comfort zone, because if we don't then we aren't going to be able to solve this problem."