Fighting antimicrobial resistance: Why diagnostics matter
Antibiotics have transformed modern medicine. But their power is waning. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) now poses a global health crisis, one that could reverse decades of progress. Amp Health is joining forces with partners around the world to help fight back.
The discovery of antibiotics is considered one of the most significant breakthroughs of 20th-century medicine. Yet many of its gains could be lost thanks to the urgent and growing threat of AMR, drug-resistant infections that are increasingly difficult and costly to treat.
In 2021, AMR directly caused 1.14 million deaths. Another 4.71 million people died with drug-resistant infections. Without action, AMR could claim 2 million lives annually by 2050.
While AMR affects every country, its impact is disproportionately severe in regions that grapple with poverty and inequality. In such settings, limited access to antibiotics and diagnostic tools makes infections more complicated to treat and containment more difficult. The World Health Organization has outlined key priorities to address the AMR crisis:
Preventing infections to reduce the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials
Ensuring universal access to high-quality diagnostics and appropriate treatment
Driving innovation and strategic data use, including surveillance, research and development for novel vaccines, diagnostics, and medicines
Partnering for progress
The launch of DxAMR, featuring Amp Health’s Director of Regional Partnerships, Dr Sholo Dele-Olowu (front row, fourth from left). Image credit: WACCBIP
Tackling AMR requires coordinated, cross-sector action, especially in the realm of diagnostics. In June 2025, Amp Health joined global partners in launching DxAMR, a new global consortium dedicated to accelerating access to effective diagnostic tools to tackle AMR.
Hosted at the University of Ghana, the inaugural DxAMR organising committee was led by the Fleming Initiative, a global effort to create solutions to AMR based at Imperial College London, alongside partners including the Africa CDC, Wellcome Trust, Cepheid, WACCBIP, and Amp Health.
DxAMR will build on the momentum of the United Nations General Assembly’s 2024 High-Level Declaration on AMR, a landmark agreement that aims to scale up action to reduce the global deaths associated with AMR resistance by 10% by 2030. Focusing on closing critical gaps in access, affordability, and innovation, DxAMR's mission is to develop collaborative frameworks that enable a coordinated global response to AMR, anchored in improved diagnostic capabilities. This global response seeks to align and mobilise efforts, catalyse innovation, and accelerate access to diagnostics to address AMR, with a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries.
Amp Health brings a decade of experience building trust-based public sector partnerships and embedding leadership support within government teams. This perspective will help shape DxAMR’s approach to implementation, equity, and sustainability.
AMR is not a future threat – it is a present danger. But with the right tools, leadership, and collective action, it is a challenge we can meet. Amp Health is proud to be part of DxAMR and to help shape the vision of this powerful initiative.