The social determinants of superbugs: antimicrobial resistance in South Asia

Katia S. Mohindra, Fariha Haseen and Madison Adams

Chapter 20 in Handbook on the Social Determinants of Health, 2025, pp 278-292 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global health threat as bacterial infections are becoming increasingly resistant to available antimicrobials, notably antibiotics. Extensive efforts are underway to understand the scientific mechanisms undergirding AMR; however, existing literature has yet to fully engage with the complex, multilayered factors determining AMR, and how AMR has been shaping society. This chapter argues that the rise of superbugs requires an explicit account for the social production of AMR, drawing on Farmer’s critical epistemology of emerging infectious diseases. Focusing on South Asia - one of the world’s ‘hot spots’ for AMR - the authors outline why AMR is a global health issue and critically explore the ‘access and resistance conundrum’ that underpins AMR. They then articulate why and how a social determinants of health approach can contribute to countering AMR through the lens of poverty and gender, including how biological determinants of sex may interact with social determinants.

Keywords: Economics and Finance; Sociology and Social Policy; Sustainable Development Goals (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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