Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a rapidly accelerating global health crisis that threatens a crucial foundation of modern medicine: our ability to treat dangerous bacterial infections with effective antibiotics. Worldwide, drug-resistant infections contributed to 1.27 million deaths in 2019. Across Latin America and the Caribbean, resistance continues to rise, with projections estimating that more than 13 million deaths between 2025 and 2050 will be associated with AMR. In Brazil alone, drug-resistant infections have been linked to over 30,000 deaths annually since 1990, underscoring the urgent need for sustained and coordinated action.
In this context, the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP), together with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), welcomes Brazil’s leadership in developing the new draft National action plan for the prevention and control of antimicrobial resistance (PAN BR 2026–2030). As two organizations dedicated to developing life-saving treatments that safeguard people’s health, we strongly commend the government’s commitment to combatting AMR through this ambitious and forward-looking plan.
In the feedback submitted through the national consultation, we stress that strong governance and coordination are essential to driving a comprehensive response, that brings together diverse scientific, regulatory, clinical, and civil society expertise. As a unique not-for-profit foundation focused on research and development and access to treatments to tackle AMR, GARDP offered its inclusion as a member in the proposed AMR Technical Group of the One Health Interministerial Committee as well as the Scientific Committee to share expertise from its work in Brazil and globally. Together with DNDi, we also support the establishment of a dedicated national programme – drawing on lessons from HIV, tuberculosis and malaria – to enable a coordinated, long-term approach spanning prevention, timely diagnosis, access to treatments, and responsible stewardship.
Currently, many of the world’s most critical antibiotics, especially Reserve treatments for resistant infections, remain out of reach for large segments of the global population. Lack of access to new treatments increases the spread of resistant pathogens, creating a cycle where infections become increasingly more difficult to treat. This is also the reality in Brazil, especially in the public sector, with very few antibiotics available for people who need them. For this reason, GARDP and DNDi encourage Brazil to embed equitable access to new and existing antibiotics within its national plan.
The creation of the Scientific Committee offers a key opportunity to advance research that supports both innovation and access – from new treatment models to operational research that helps optimize antibiotic use in clinical practice. We also call for new robust manufacturing standards for both domestic and international production, noting that environmental contamination can spur the spread of resistant pathogens.
Finally, the successful introduction of new antibiotics into health systems requires clear plans and protocols. Brazil has already demonstrated leadership through its collaboration with GARDP, aiming to accelerate future access to cefiderocol, a Reserve antibiotic used to treat serious drug-resistant bacterial infections within healthcare facilities. Building on this experience, it will be important to standardize, at the national level, therapeutic protocols for reserve antimicrobials, ensuring that clinicians across the country have the tools they need to use new treatments safely and effectively once they are made available.
We stand ready to support Brazil in translating this plan into action by encouraging the adoption of recommendations that will further strengthen governance, research, manufacturing, stewardship, and access to lifesaving antibiotics – especially those needed to treat resistant infections. We remain committed to working with Brazil in advancing this critical agenda and to working together toward a future in which everyone, everywhere, has access to effective treatments that save lives and slow the spread of resistance.
About GARDP
GARDP (the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership) is a not-for-profit global health organization driven to protect people from the rise and spread of drug-resistant infections, one of the biggest threats to us all. By forging the public and private partnerships that matter, we develop and make accessible antibiotic treatments for people who need them. gardp.org
About DNDi
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a not-for-profit medical research organization that discovers, develops, and delivers safe, effective, and affordable treatments for neglected populations. DNDi is developing medicines for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, river blindness, lymphatic filariasis, female genital schistosomiasis, mycetoma, dengue, paediatric HIV, cryptococcal meningitis, and hepatitis C. Its research priorities include children’s health; gender equity and gender-responsive R&D; and diseases impacted by climate change. Since its creation in 2003, DNDi has collaborated with public and private partners worldwide to deliver thirteen new treatments for six deadly diseases, saving millions of lives. For more information, visit: dndi.org
