Table 1.

Factors identified as driving global antimicrobial resistance

Factors	Plain language translation
Human antimicrobial mis-/over-use	Misuse and/or overuse of antibiotics in humans (e.g. not finishing a course of antibiotics, taking antibiotics for viral, rather than bacterial, infections)
Animal antimicrobial mis-/over-use	Misuse and/or overuse of antibiotics in animals (e.g. farming)
Environmental contamination (including sewage and heavy metals)	Waste products from antibiotics entering the environment (through manufacture, sewage and disposal)
Healthcare transmission	Resistant bacteria being passed between people in hospital and other healthcare areas
Sub-optimal rapid diagnostics	A lack of quick, accurate tests to diagnose infections
Sub-optimal preventative medicine/vaccination	A lack of effective vaccines and poor uptake of existing ones
Sub-optimal dosing, including from substandard and falsified medications	Incorrect dosing of antibiotics in humans (e.g. not adjusting dosage for body weight)
Travel	Human travel from one area of the globe to another, spreading resistant bugs
Mass drug administration in human health	Mass drug administration – i.e. the regular giving of antibiotics to a large group of people (e.g. a whole state or country) to treat an infection, regardless of whether individuals are ill or not