Engaging the private sector to improve antimicrobial use in the community

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the world’s most pressing public health threats. It increases the cost of health care through longer duration of illness and hospital stays, additional tests, and the need for more expensive drugs.AMR refers to the ability of a microorganism to stop an antimicrobial (such as an antibiotic, antiviral or antimalarial) from working against it. As a consequence of AMR, standard treatments become ineffective, and infections persist and may spread to others. The impact of AMR is far-reaching and equates to the situation before the discovery of antibiotics, when even small infections were difficult, or very often impossible to treat, and medical procedures too risky to perform due to the potential of untreatable infection.