World AMR Awareness Week is a global campaign to raise awareness and understanding of AMR and promote global action to tackle the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens.
As one of WHO’s official health campaigns, World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) is mandated by the World Health Assembly and is commemorated from 18 to 24 November each year.
The theme for WAAW 2025 is “Act Now: Protect our present, protect our future.”
This theme highlights the urgent need to take bold and united action to combat AMR, as it is already negatively impacting our health, food systems, environment and economy.
Global resistance has reached alarming levels
Drug-resistant infections are on the rise. However, awareness, investment and action remain insufficient.
One in six infections worldwide is now resistant to antibiotics, highlighting a growing global health crisis, according to a new report from the World Health Organization.
Furthermore, between 2018 and 2023, resistance increased in more than 40% of monitored pathogen-antibiotic combinations, with an average annual increase of 5-15%.
In the face of this situation, global commemorations and awareness such as World AMR Awareness Week have never been more important.
Strengthening testing systems, expanding surveillance, and ensuring treatment guidelines are aligned with local resistance patterns are important steps, and the awareness raised by WAAW can help with this.
What is the cause of the increase in AMR?
The AMR epidemic is primarily driven by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics in human and animal health, as well as agriculture.
When antibiotics are used incorrectly or in excess, resistant microorganisms emerge and spread, rendering the particular antibiotic ineffective against subsequent infections caused by those microorganisms.
As a result, another antibiotic must be used, and if it is overused or misused again, it can lead to further resistance and fewer or no options for treating that infection.
This is not a future problem, act now
Building on the momentum of the 2024 UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR, this call to action urges all stakeholders, including governments, civil society, health care providers, veterinarians, farmers, environmentalists, and the general public, to translate political commitments into concrete and responsible life-saving interventions.
Strengthening surveillance, ensuring equitable access to high-quality medicines and diagnostics, fostering innovation, and building resilient systems all require long-term commitment and resources.
Investing in AMR protection is a smart move toward a safer, healthier future. Whether it’s a hospital administrator setting up an antimicrobial stewardship team or a farmer adopting sustainable waste management practices, every action counts.
It is important to raise awareness and cooperate
No matter your role this World AMR Awareness Week, whether it’s developing policy, providing care, protecting ecosystems, or raising awareness, Act Now: Protecting our present, protecting our future is a shared responsibility.
Together we can keep antibiotics effective and build a healthier, more sustainable world for future generations.
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