The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a core package of 13 interventions to support countries when developing, implementing and monitoring national action plans to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The interventions outline the needs and barriers for people and patients when accessing health services through a people-centred approach to AMR.
Designated as one of the top ten health threats facing humanity by WHO, AMR occurs when bacteria, fungi and parasites evolve and adapt to antibiotics over time.
Globally, AMR is responsible for approximately 1.27 million deaths and is estimated to cost the world’s economy $100trn by 2050, if left unresolved.
As part of the organisation’s Global Action Plan for AMR published in June this year, the core package aims to place the needs of people and system barriers at the centre, as well as enhance awareness and understanding of AMR among policymakers and the general public.
The people-centred approach intends to ensure equitable and affordable access to good-quality preventative services, timely diagnosis, appropriate treatment and care of resistant infections to reduce the morbidity and mortality impact of AMR.
Divided into four pillars, the interventions include: prevention, access to essential health services, timely and accurate diagnosis, and quality-assured treatment.
The package will support programmatic and comprehensive responses to AMR at the country level, as well as the vitality of providing equitable and affordable access to health services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of drug-resistant infections.
The foundational steps outlined will encourage effective governance, awareness and education, as well as awareness-raising, education and behaviour change among health workers and communities.
“This practical set of interventions, based on the need for a strong people-centred response in the human health sector, will greatly contribute to One Health actions under the umbrella of multi-sectoral national action plans on AMR,” said Kitty Weezenbeek, director, surveillance prevention and control, WHO AMR Division.
In May this year, WHO released a report which highlighted the progress and the remaining gaps to tackle AMR, outlining the ways that global health systems can stimulate research and development of new antibiotics.