Bacteria know no borders we must stay in the fight

The reported cessation of the Fleming Fund represents a catastrophic abandonment of Britain's leadership on one of the gravest threats to global health security.

- Ara Darzi

This decision, if confirmed, would dismantle what the government itself describes as “the world’s largest single investment” in antimicrobial resistance surveillance - at precisely the moment when such leadership is most needed.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) already kills 35,000 people annually in Britain and nearly five million globally. Without urgent action, forecasts suggest almost 40 million people will lose their lives in the next 25 years. The Fleming Fund, established in 2015 following the O'Neill review, has been Britain's response to this crisis, supporting surveillance in 25 countries and building the infrastructure needed to track and combat resistant infections.

The closure makes no strategic sense. Drug-resistant bacteria do not respect borders. Infections that emerge in poorly monitored health systems abroad inevitably reach British shores through travel, trade and migration. The NHS is already treating patients with AMR infections acquired overseas. Cutting this funding is tantamount to dismantling radar systems during wartime.