Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

The effect of geopolitical flux on antimicrobial resistance

Nature Medicine volume 31, page 2468 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

Access through your institution
Buy or subscribe

Changing international relationships and increasing geopolitical tensions can present very real hazards to health and healthcare, particularly in relation to communicable diseases1. Conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza and Syria have resulted in mass population displacements, and disruptions to sanitation, hygiene, health infrastructures and key public health initiatives challenge efforts to curb the spread of infectious and vaccine-preventable diseases (https://www.iom.int/crisis-ukraine; https://www.iom.int/crisis-syrian-arab-republic).

Political stability and health are closely interlinked, underlining how investments in global health can have profound impacts on humanitarian issues. Put simply, global disease surveillance and prevention are parts of a complex geopolitical tapestry, and we ignore these multiple threads at our peril. The spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a sobering illustration of such complexity and one of the greatest global health threats of our time2. In Ukraine, we have seen how AMR continues to extend hospital stays and morbidity while presenting a serious threat to health services across Europe3. International collaboration in health surveillance, therapeutic development and intelligence-sharing therefore is fundamental to limiting the spread of drug-resistant infections4.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Access through your institution

Buy this article

  • Purchase on SpringerLink
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Lekagul, A. SDG Move https://go.nature.com/45bAtMD (accessed 6 March 2024).

  2. Ho, C. S. et al. Lancet Microbe 6, 100947 (2025).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Pallett, S. J. C. et al. Commun. Med. (Lond). 3, 153 (2023).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Tasker, A. J., Jones-Parr, C. A. & Richardson-Gool, T. S. Through the Kaleidoscope: Antimicrobial Resistance, Conflict and Security (Wilton Park, 2025); https://go.nature.com/4kMQKMs

  5. World Health Organization. https://go.nature.com/4jCYkbv (21 December 2023).

  6. The Fleming Fund. https://go.nature.com/3SAxvK9 (24 September 2024).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Infection Department, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Scott J. C. Pallett & Luke S. P. Moore

  2. Centre of Defence Pathology, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK

    Scott J. C. Pallett & Matthew K. O’Shea

  3. Beacon House, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Alex Tasker

  4. Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament and Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antimicrobial Resistance, London, UK

    Danny Chambers

  5. British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, Birmingham, UK

    Michael Corley

  6. Institute of Immunology and Immunotherapy, College of Medical & Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

    Matthew K. O’Shea

  7. Trinity College, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Sally Davies

  8. National Institute for Health Research Health Biomedical Research Centre, Hammersmith Campus, Imperial College London, London, UK

    Luke S. P. Moore

Authors
  1. Scott J. C. Pallett
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alex Tasker
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Danny Chambers
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Michael Corley
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Matthew K. O’Shea
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Sally Davies
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Luke S. P. Moore
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Scott J. C. Pallett.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

L.S.P.M. has consulted for or received speaker fees from bioMerieux (2013-2025), Eumedica (2016–2025), Pfizer (2018–2025), Sumitovant (2021–2023), Shionogi (2021–2025), Qiagen (2023), Gilead (2024), BioNTech (2024), Insmed (2024) and Advanz (2024–2025) and received research grants from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (2013–2025), CW+ Charity (2018–2025), North West London Pathology (2022–2024), LifeArc (2020–2022), Shionogi (2024–2025), Infectopharm (2022–2024), the Joint Programming Initiative on AntiMicrobial Resistance (2023–2025) and the Healthcare Infection Society (2024–2025). S.J.C.P. has received research grants from the Drummond Foundation and the John Muir Trust and Healthcare Infection Society not in connection with this work. S.J.C.P. was a parliamentary intern to the office of Dr. Danny Chambers, MP, on behalf of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pallett, S.J.C., Tasker, A., Chambers, D. et al. The effect of geopolitical flux on antimicrobial resistance. Nat Med 31, 2468 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03758-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-025-03758-9

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing