Quantify the current and projected mortality burden from antibiotic-resistant infections, assess the economic costs across healthcare systems and economies, and map the geographic distribution of resistance prevalence and outcomes.

Systematic review of 150+ epidemiological studies on resistance prevalence and mortality, cross-referenced with WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) data. Economic burden analysis using WHO costing models applied to 45 countries across income levels. Genomic epidemiology data from Pathosystems Resource Integration Center (PATRIC) to track resistance mechanism emergence.

27 million deaths globally in 2019 (GBD estimate), making AMR the eighth leading cause of death — and this is in a world where antibiotics are still widely available. Hospital-acquired infections from resistant pathogens cost healthcare systems $20-40 billion annually in the US alone. In Bangladesh and Nigeria, resistance rates in E.

coli now exceed 50% for third-generation cephalosporins. The 'resistome' — the sum of all antibiotic resistance genes — has expanded dramatically: resistance genes present in clinical isolates today are being detected in environmental samples from livestock farms and wastewater treatment plants globally, creating a mechanism for spread to human pathogens.

If current trends continue, AMR could cause 10 million excess deaths annually by 2050 and reduce global GDP by $100 trillion.