UP to 10 million people could die annually by 2050 due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) said on Tuesday, highlighting the need to curtail the pollution created by the pharmaceutical, agricultural and health care sectors.

In a report launched in Barbados' capital Bridgetown, the UNEP called for increased efforts to reduce the emergence, transmission and spread of 'superbugs' — strains of bacteria that have become resistant to every known biotic — and other instances of AMR. These are already taking a serious toll on human, animal and plant health, it said.