Although antibiotic resistance is on the rise, a public health approach can help curb the crisis, according to Michelle Williams, dean of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Experts predict that millions worldwide will lose their lives over the next several decades due to drug resistance, Williams wrote in a July 9, 2019 Washington Post op-ed. She said that “a sustained, coordinated, multifront campaign,” similar to those mounted against smallpox and cigarette smoking, is necessary to reverse the problem.
Williams offered several suggestions: prevent infections whenever possible, invest more money in research and development, and limit antibiotics’ use by tying their profitability not to sales but to their social value.
“Like our rivers and forests, [antibiotics] are precious resources,” Williams wrote. “Like our highways and bridges, they are public goods that should be available to all. Put simply, we must bring a collective moral vision to this high-stakes battle.”
Read Michelle Williams’ Washington Post op-ed: We can’t despair about our antibiotic crisis