Shortage of important form of penicillin affecting 39 countries, including India: AMF

The paper also shows how some pharmaceutical companies were responding.

In Brazil, this shortage (of penicillin) coincided with a syphilis outbreak that, as a result, could not be brought under control. Between 2012 and 2015, the number of babies born in Brazil with congenital syphilis has more than doubled, it said.

"Antibiotic shortages are occurring because the antibiotics market just doesn't work well enough. Pharma companies need to be incentivised to keep producing antibiotics.

"There is definitely no easy fix. But without a global push to address the systemic causes, we risk being unable to treat common infections, such as from contaminated food or simple wounds," said Jayasree K Iyer, Executive Director at Access to Medicine Foundation.

Antibiotic supply chains are complex. Batches are passed between multiple distributors before reaching the patient, the foundation said.

This leads to low visibility and accountability, with little alignment to ensure supply matches demand, it said.

The Access to Medicine Foundation is an independent non-profit organisation based in the Netherlands, with a mission is to stimulate and guide pharmaceutical companies to do more for the people living in low-income and middle-income countries without access to medicine.