£3.8bn fund proposed to tackle growing crisis

Efforts to tackle drugresistant infections will require a global fund of at least 5 billion US dollars (£3.8 billion) each year, according to researchers.

Experts in infectious diseases are calling for a World Bank Trust Fund to co-ordinate global action over what they believe to be a growing public health crisis.

In addition to the cash injection, they are also making the case for worldwide limits on antibiotics use.

The call has come from researchers at the University of Edinburgh; the US Centre for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy; New York University and Fudan University in China, who have outlined their proposals in the journal Science.