Imagine going to a clinic with a painful urinary infection — a condition that, a generation ago, would have cleared up with a three-day course of antibiotics — and being told that none of the available drugs seem to be working. For millions of people around the world, particularly in low-resource settings in Africa, this is an everyday reality.
What is antimicrobial resistance?
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, or parasites evolve to resist the drugs designed to kill them. In the context of UTIs, this means that the antibiotics prescribed by a doctor may simply not work. The WHO identified AMR as one of the top ten global public health threats in 2019. In 2024, the UN General Assembly adopted a Political Declaration on AMR acknowledging that bacterial AMR is already associated with an estimated 4.95 million deaths per year globally.
A crisis built on overuse — and under-diagnosis
AMR is often described as the result of antibiotic overuse — and that is partly true. But in Sub-Saharan Africa, a critical driver is not just overuse, but inappropriate use driven by a lack of diagnostic tools.
When no laboratory test is available to identify the specific bacteria involved, clinicians have no choice but to prescribe a broad-spectrum antibiotic. If that drug is one the bacteria have already learned to resist, the treatment fails. This cycle repeats millions of times a year. A 2024 study in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance found that over 50% of bacteria isolated from UTI patients in East Africa were already multidrug-resistant — 52.2% for E. coli.
The scale of the crisis
The WHO’s 2025 Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report — drawing on data from 110 countries and over 23 million confirmed cases — shows resistance rates to first-line antibiotics continue to rise. The WHO’s October 2025 Global Call to Action on AMR warns that without urgent intervention, drug-resistant infections could claim 39 million lives by 2050 and cost up to USD 412 billion annually. A 10% reduction in AMR-related human deaths by 2030 is the agreed UN target.
UTI-Diag: diagnostic innovation at the service of better treatment
UTI-Diag is an EU-funded consortium of 11 partners from Africa and Europe working to develop point-of-care diagnostic tools that can identify the bacteria causing a UTI — and its resistance profile — quickly, accurately, and without the need for fully equipped laboratory infrastructure.
A clinician with a fast, reliable result can prescribe the right antibiotic on the first attempt — protecting the patient, reducing treatment failure, and removing a key driver of resistance. Field visits in November 2025 confirmed the urgency: communities across Sub-Saharan Africa urgently need tools that fit real-world conditions.
What you can do
AMR is a collective problem. At the individual level: use antibiotics only when prescribed, complete prescribed courses, and never share or reuse leftover antibiotics. At the policy level: invest in diagnostic infrastructure alongside antibiotic stewardship. At the research level, consortia like UTI-Diag demonstrate that targeted, partnership-built innovation can close the gap between what modern medicine can offer and what is actually available on the ground in Africa.
References
- WHO (2025). Global Antibiotic Resistance Surveillance Report 2025. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240116337
- WHO (2025). Global Call to Action to Address Antimicrobial Resistance. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/global-call-to-action-to-address-antimicrobial-resistance
- UN General Assembly (2024). Political Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance. United Nations, 79th Session.
- Maldonado-Barragán A. et al. (2024). Predominance of multidrug-resistant bacteria causing UTI in East Africa. JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1093/jacamr/dlae019
- WHO (2015, updated 2025). Global Action Plan on AMR (GAP 2.0 in development). https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241509763
Contact
UTI-Diag Communication
info@utidiag.org
www.utidiag.org
This project is funded by the European Union through Global Health EDCTP3 and by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).