Educate, Advocate, and Act Now on AMR

What happens when the medicines that are supposed to treat you stop working? This is the danger posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR)—when microbes like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites gain the ability to resist medications. AMR not only threatens our ability to fight and control infections, but it causes over one million deaths every year, making AMR one of the world’s top threats to global health.

The week of November 18-24 is World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week, an annual weeklong campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of antimicrobial resistance and drive action to prevent its emergence and spread. The theme for this year’s Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week is “Educate. Advocate. Act now,” highlighting how education is a key part of preventing AMR and protecting the effectiveness of antimicrobial medications.

AMR occurs when microbes evolve genetic changes that allow them to survive microbe-killing drugs. The resistance trait spreads as microbes share genetic material, reproduce, and move through the environment. When a patient has an infection that stops responding to a drug, they may be forced to use second- or third-line medications that are more toxic and have more serious side effects. Some microbes, called “superbugs,” can even become resistant to multiple types of drugs, making infections harder or even impossible to treat.

The emergence and spread of AMR are primarily driven by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobial drugs. One example of improperly using antimicrobial drugs occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many patients with COVID-19 infections were treated with antibiotics “just in case” they helped. COVID-19 is a viral infection, so antibiotics, which kill bacteria, are not an effective treatment. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 75 percent of hospitalized COVID-19 patients worldwide were treated with antibiotics, but only 8 percent of hospitalized COVID patients actually needed antibiotics. WHO experts say that the widespread overuse of antibiotics may have exacerbated the spread of AMR.

To prevent further misuse and overuse of antimicrobial drugs, education for both physicians and patients on proper antimicrobial prescription and usage is critical. Scaling up vaccines as well as improving access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene could also help by protecting people against infections and reducing the need to use antimicrobial drugs. Finally, the world can also invest in researching and developing new antimicrobial drugs.

Fighting AMR requires cross-sector collaboration—especially because the spread of AMR has been closely linked to pollution from wastewater and agricultural run-off. The WHO partners with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the World Organisation for Animal Health to monitor AMR and provide recommendations to prevent its spread. These four organizations make up the “Quadripartite,” and together, they advocate for a multidisciplinary “One Health” approach that acknowledges how the health of humans is closely tied to the health of animals, plants, and our shared environment.

This year, at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance, global leaders committed to reducing deaths associated with bacterial AMR by 10 percent by 2030. The meeting also set targets related to antimicrobial use and improving infection prevention and control. Leaders additionally acknowledged the need to meaningfully reduce antimicrobial use in agriculture and address the discharge of antimicrobials into the environment.

To learn more about AMR and its relationship to the health of people, animals, and the environment, explore our resource packs on Antimicrobial Resistance and One Health.

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