The UK government is promising to incentivise pharmaceutical companies to develop “urgently needed” drugs to fight antimicrobial resistant (AMR) superbugs, with the health secretary warning “we are on the cusp of a world where a simple graze could be deadly”.

Under the plans, the inappropriate use of antibiotics would also be cut by 15%, reducing resistant infections and potentially saving thousands of lives in the UK.

The pharmaceutical industry is braced for criticism that it has been reluctant to carry out research in the area since it is potentially less profitable than breakthrough medicines.

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, is to announce the proposals at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, where he will make the case for AMR to be treated as a “global health emergency” that poses as big a threat to humanity as climate change.

“Imagine a world without antibiotics. Where treatable infections become untreatable, where routine surgery like a hip operation becomes too risky to carry out, and where every wound is potentially life-threatening,” Hancock is expected to say.

“What would go through your mind if your child cut their finger and you knew there was no antibiotic left that could treat an infection? This was the human condition until almost a century ago. I don’t want it to be the future for my children – yet it may be unless we act.

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“Each and every one of us benefits from antibiotics, but we all too easily take them for granted, and I shudder at the thought of a world in which their power is diminished. Antimicrobial resistance is as big a danger to humanity as climate change or warfare. That’s why we need an urgent global response.”

Work to introduce the new payment model will be under way within six months, with the government aiming to reduce the number of drug-resistant infections by 5,000, or 10%, by 2025 – and prevent at least 15,000 patients a year from contracting infections as a result of their healthcare by 2024.

Antibiotic resistance poses a substantial threat to modern medicine and is predicted to kill 10 million people every year by 2050, according to the O’Neill report – a 2016 review, commissioned by the government, which assessed the potential impact of AMR.

Resistant infections contribute to the deaths of about 2,000 people each year in the UK, with at least 20% of antibiotics in primary care inappropriately prescribed, according to official figures.

A lack of effective antibiotics could result in simple operations such as caesarean sections or hip replacements becoming too dangerous to perform. The number of drug-resistant bloodstream infections, such as super-gonorrhoea, increased by 35% from 2013 to 2017.

Theresa May, the prime minister, said: “The increase in antibiotic resistance is a threat we cannot afford to ignore. It is vital that we tackle the spread of drug-resistant infections before routine operations and minor illnesses become life-threatening.

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“I am very proud of the UK’s global leadership on this important agenda. We will continue to work with our partners to drive international action that will protect the health of future generations.”

In a statement, the health department said: “The way drugs companies are currently paid depends on the volumes they sell, meaning companies have an incentive to sell as many antibiotics as possible, at the same time as government is trying to reduce antibiotic use.

“Low returns on investment in development means industry does not innovate enough and as a result, very few of the new drugs that are currently in the pipeline are targeted towards priority infections.”

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and NHS England will explore how a new payment model could pay pharmaceutical companies for drugs based on how valuable the medicines are to the health service, rather than on the simple basis of the sheer quantity of antibiotics sold.

It is hoped that this would incentivise companies to invest in the development of drugs that will treat high-priority resistant infections. The UK has cut the amount of antibiotics it uses by more than 7% since 2014.