India, May 13 -- In a semi-urban primary health centre, a middle-aged man confidently speaks about how a tablet of azithromycin relieves him of his sore throat. In the same OPD, a young mother describes why she stops giving her three-year-old child the prescribed antibiotics as soon as the child begins to do better. She has heard of the word 'resistance' but in vague terms. On visits to hospitals and health centres, such stories are repeated with remarkable consistency. Antibiotics are overused and misunderstood, and the lack of clear communication about their purpose and risks allows half knowledge and habit to influence how they are consumed.

According to recent estimations, bacterial AMR was linked to 4.71 million fatalities in 2021, ...