People in Wales are being asked to 'play their part' as the Welsh Government launches its next plan to reduce resistance to antibiotics.

This move was announced by Wales’ chief medical and veterinary officers as they introduce the next stage of a 20-year plan aimed at preventing antibiotic resistance, declared as one of the world's biggest killers.

In 2019, about 7,600 deaths occurred directly from infections resistant to antibiotics, a number nearly parallel to the stomach cancer death rate in the UK.

Highlighting the severity of the issue, the authorities outlined that even when patients survive resistant infections, the treatment becomes far more challenging due to the resistance.

However, implementing easy preventive steps and avoiding inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans and animals can evade some of these fatalities.

The UK Antimicrobial Resistance National Action Plan for 2024-29 was launched on May 8.

Its primary aim involves lowering the necessity for antimicrobials - such as antibiotics, antifungals, and antivirals - in humans and animals, fortifying the scrutiny of resistant infections before they surge, and encouraging industry to invent the succeeding group of treatments.

Chief medical officer for Wales, Sir Frank Atherton, said: "We want to build on the achievements of the first five years of this plan and continue to raise awareness of what everyone can do to help fight AMR.

"Taking antibiotics when you do not need them means they are less likely to work in the future.

"Not all infections need antibiotics, and many mild bacterial infections get better on their own."

Chief veterinary officer for Wales, Dr Richard Irvine, highlighted the contributions of Wales, saying: "Antibiotic use in animals and people is a major driver of AMR.

"We are committed to reducing the need to use of antibiotics in animals to ensure that these medicines continue to work in animals and prevent resistance spreading from animals to humans."

This plan follows a 20-year vision that the Governments of the UK launched in 2019 to contain and control antimicrobial resistance (AMR) by 2040.

Impressively, despite the covid pandemic, the UK could diminish human exposure to antimicrobials by more than 8 per cent since 2014 and slash the use of antibiotics in food-producing animals by 59 per cent between 2014 and 2022.