AMR: Nigeria admits gaps in tracking drug-resistant infections

The federal government has acknowledged gaps in Nigeria’s antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance, saying available estimates may not fully reflect the country’s burden of drug-resistant infections.

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The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a joint One Health ministerial briefing ahead of the fifth Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on AMR.

The conference is scheduled for Abuja from 6 to 8 December 2026 and will be the first to be held on African soil. The conference theme is “One Health: Advancing Global AMR Commitments to Local Action.”

Mr Pate said Nigeria had evidence of antimicrobial resistance in hospitals, but surveillance gaps made it difficult to produce accurate national estimates.

“The specific numbers depend on the surveillance capabilities. I have to admit that there are still gaps in surveillance,” he said.

He added that Nigeria’s figures “may not be the same” as estimates from countries with stronger surveillance systems.

AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites become resistant to medicines used to treat infections, making them less effective or ineffective.

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Deaths recorded in Nigeria

Nigeria’s One Health Antimicrobial Resistance National Action Plan 2024-2028 estimates that 64,500 deaths in Nigeria in 2019 were attributable to AMR, while 263,400 deaths were associated with AMR. It cautions that the figures are likely underestimated because of gaps in national AMR surveillance.

Globally, the 2019 Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) study estimated that bacterial AMR directly caused 1.27 million deaths and was associated with 4.95 million deaths.

Mr Pate described AMR as a “hidden pandemic”, saying resistant infections were sometimes not immediately recognised as the cause of prolonged illness or treatment failure.

“Folks go to hospitals, get treated for pneumonia, typhoid, or whatever infectious disease. In some places, without proper knowledge of the sensitivity to the antimicrobial being used, individuals may suffer much longer than they should, and some may have complications or lose their lives,” he said.

He said Nigerian hospitals had recorded cases of complicated pneumonia where patients received multiple antibiotics but failed to improve.

“You don’t know why the patient is not getting better, but the root cause is antimicrobial resistance,” he said.

Surveillance gaps

The minister’s comments come as efforts to strengthen Nigeria’s ability to generate AMR data.

In December 2025, Nigeria launched its first nationally representative AMR survey to establish a national baseline on antimicrobial resistance and strengthen routine surveillance.

The survey is designed to cover 40 to 45 randomly selected health facilities across the country and involve about 35,000 patients suspected of having bloodstream infections.

The exercise is also expected to assess the burden of AMR, including morbidity, mortality and the cost of resistant infections, while strengthening laboratory and data systems.

A 2025 study assessing 302 laboratories in Nigeria also found significant gaps in their capacity to support AMR surveillance.

Only 7.3 per cent of the laboratories surveyed were considered fully ready for AMR Surveillance, while 12.3 per cent reported participating in AMR surveillance.

The researchers said AMR surveillance was concentrated in government and tertiary laboratories, leaving lower-level and rural facilities underused and resulting in gaps in community-level data.

Government response

Mr Pate said the government is responding to AMR through a whole-of-government approach involving the health, agriculture, livestock and environment sectors.

He said the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare had operated an antimicrobial stewardship programme in federal hospitals for the past two and a half years to promote appropriate antimicrobial use.

He also said a clinical governance task force was established earlier this year to guide hospital practices that could expose patients to healthcare-associated infections.

Other measures, he said, include stronger regulatory oversight, improved pharmaceutical distribution, expanded diagnostic capacity and training of health workers.

Mr Pate said vaccination and infection prevention also help reduce the need for antimicrobials. He urged Nigerians to avoid indiscriminate antibiotic use and seek medical advice before taking them.

“It’s not every cough that needs to use antibiotics. It’s not every catarrh that needs to use antibiotics,” he said.

Conference

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, said the December conference would focus on reviewing progress, accelerating high-impact interventions and strengthening global AMR governance.

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He said the conference would also seek to develop the Abuja Compact on Antimicrobial Resistance, which member states and stakeholders are shaping through consultations.

The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Lawal, said resistant organisms could move between humans, animals, farms, food systems and the environment.

Mr Lawal said the four ministries leading Nigeria’s One Health response had committed to joint coordination, sector-specific action, public reporting and a tracking mechanism for implementation of the Abuja Compact.

Mr Pate said the government would continue working with state governments, private-sector stakeholders and development partners to strengthen Nigeria’s response to AMR.