WHO issues blueprint to combat fungal disease and antifungal resistance

WHO issues blueprint to combat fungal disease and antifungal resistance

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published a new guidance to help countries confront the rising burden of fungal disease and antifungal resistance, a threat that affects more than 300 million people each year and is associated with high mortality, long-term illness, and major losses in health and productivity worldwide.

Fungal diseases range from common conditions such as ringworm and nail infections to severe invasive diseases that can be deadly, especially for people with weakened immune systems, those receiving intensive care, people living with HIV, transplant recipients, and cancer patients.

Despite this toll, fungal diseases are often missing from national health treatment policies, global burden-of-disease estimates, and most strategies on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), universal health coverage, and One Health. The WHO's new Blueprint for strengthening responses to fungal disease and antifungal resistance aims to address this gap by providing countries with practical steps to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance.

The blueprint prioritizes interventions around four interlinked domains: public health and health systems, expanding equitable access to quality-assured antifungal medicines and diagnostics, strengthening laboratory systems and surveillance, and addressing social and environmental drivers.

The WHO report on antifungal drugs notes that, in the past 10 years, only four new antifungal drugs have been approved by regulatory agencies in the United States, European Union, or China. All four approved drugs have demonstrated activity against at least one fungal critical priority pathogen (CPP) according to the WHO Fungal priority pathogens list (FPPL), published in 2022.

Issues with current antifungal treatments include serious side effects, frequent drug-drug interactions, limited dosage forms, and a need for prolonged hospital stays. The report highlights the urgent need for safer antifungal medicines.

In addition to the lack of effective treatments, the WHO report also highlights the need for better diagnostics. Commercially available tests can detect fungal CPPs and other serious fungi, but they rely on well-equipped laboratories and trained staff, which means that most people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) cannot access them.

The growing threat of antifungal resistance is driven in part by the widespread use of antifungal medications and their analogues across human, animal, and plant health, as well as environmental exposure to antifungal chemicals.

In response to this challenge, the WHO has developed the Blueprint for strengthening responses to fungal disease and antifungal resistance, which provides countries with a practical framework to strengthen their response.

A dedicated webinar will mark the launch of the blueprint, which is part of the WHO's efforts to address the global health threat posed by fungal diseases and antifungal resistance.