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Info Service on Health Issues (Jul26/01) WHO launches blueprint to strengthen response to fungal diseases and antifungal resistance The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a new blueprint aimed at helping countries respond more effectively to fungal diseases and antifungal resistance, an area increasingly recognised as part of the wider but still unevenly addressed antimicrobial resistance (AMR) agenda. Fungal diseases are estimated to affect more than 300 million people each year and continue to impose a substantial health and economic burden. While many common fungal infections are superficial and treatable, the concern is really with invasive infections, which can be severe and sometimes fatal, particularly among people living with HIV, cancer patients, transplant recipients, and others with weakened immune systems. Despite this burden, fungal diseases remain poorly reflected in many national health plans and are still largely missing from global burden-of-disease estimates, as well as from most AMR, universal health coverage, and One Health strategies. The new blueprint builds on WHO’s earlier work, including its 2022 fungal priority pathogens list, and is intended to help countries close these gaps. It is also aligned with the Updated Global Action Plan on AMR adopted at the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly (WHA79), reinforcing the need to treat antifungal resistance as part of the core AMR response rather than a peripheral issue. Rather than introducing entirely new frameworks, the blueprint outlines four broad areas for action: strengthening preparedness in health systems through infection prevention and control, training, and antifungal stewardship; improving access to quality diagnostics and essential antifungal medicines while supporting research and innovation; building stronger laboratory networks and surveillance systems; and addressing the environmental and social drivers of fungal disease through a One Health approach. For low- and middle-income countries in particular, these areas are closely linked to long-standing constraints in diagnostics, workforce capacity, and treatment access. Dr Jean Pierre Nyemazi, Director a.i. of WHO’s Department of Antimicrobial Resistance, noted in the WHO news release that the updated Global Action Plan on AMR, endorsed at WHA79, explicitly recognises antifungal resistance as “an integral part of the AMR challenge – and one we can no longer afford to overlook.” The blueprint, he added, is intended to give countries a more concrete way forward in translating that recognition into action. At the same time, recent surveillance data from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reported by CIDRAP News, show a marked increase in reported clinical cases of multidrug-resistant Candida auris, rising from 2,882 in 2022 to 6,197 in 2024. The fungus has become an established healthcare-associated pathogen in several settings and continues to raise concern because of its ability to spread in hospitals and cause severe invasive infections in vulnerable patients. The trend underscores the importance of sustained surveillance, infection prevention and control, and more careful use of antifungal medicines. As countries continue to strengthen their antimicrobial resistance strategies, the WHO blueprint offers a timely framework for integrating fungal diseases and antifungal resistance into national health policies, surveillance systems, and One Health approaches. Thank you.
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