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Understand  –  What can I do?

As a policy maker

The antibiotic resistance issue affects and involves many different actors, activities and sectors of society. In order to address the problem it is critical to develop appropriate policies on regional, national as well as global levels.

The Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance calls for the development of national action plans to adress antibiotic resistance in all WHO member states. A national action plan can serve as a core strategy to coordinate and align activities of different stakeholders and in different sectors and provide a legal and political framework for action. Under POLICY: Develop a national action plan you can find a step-wise guide that can serve as a starting point when planning, implementing, and evaluating a national action plan on antibiotic resistance.

Suggestions of different policy areas that can be covered under a national action plan on antibiotic resistance and resources for their implementation can be found under POLICY: Implement the plan.

Because antibiotic resistance is a global problem that has effects beyond national borders, we must respond collectively. Different stakeholders must work together to, for example, ensure access to effective antibiotics, find new approaches for the sustainable development of new antibiotics and diagnostic tools, and to conserve antibiotic effectiveness.

Examples of how other actors have worked within the Policy area to adress antibiotic resistance is presented in POLICY: Inspirational examples.

More from "What can I do?"

1.
World Health Organization - WHO. Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance. Preprint at https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241509763 (2015).