Failure to address drug-resistant TB and other infections will cause $100 trillion economic loss by 2050: Report

Drug resistant E. coli, malaria and tuberculosis would have the biggest impact

A new report released estimates that failure by governments to take action on drug resistant infections such as tuberculosis will lead to over 10 million deaths a year and cost the global economy up to $100 trillion by 2050. The report, which found that drug resistant E. coli, malaria and tuberculosis would have the biggest impact, is the first time the potential impact of drug resistant infections have been quantified.

Former Goldman Sachs Economist Jim O’Neill, who was appointed by David Cameron, Prime Minister, UK to lead the review, said drug resistant infections represent a more certain threat than climate change in the short term. Commenting on the economic costs, he said, “The annual GDP of the UK is about $3 trillion, so this would be the equivalent of around 35 years without the UK contribution to the global economy.”

“Drug-resistant tuberculosis is a catastrophe unfolding in slow motion that is already killing hundreds of thousands of people each year, and in many parts of the world is overtaking cases of normal TB”, said Dr Lucica Ditiu, Executive Secretary of the Stop TB Partnership.