UK ‘falling short’ in fight against rise of superbugs resistant to antibiotics

Of five domestic targets set in 2019, only one – reducing antibiotic use in food-producing animals – has been met, says NAO. Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA

Superbugs are on the rise in the UK and the government is failing in its efforts to tackle them, ministers have been warned.

The World Health Organization has described antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – where pathogens evolve and develop resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobials so the drugs usually used to fight them no longer work – as “one of the top global public health and development threats”.