Tackling antimicrobial resistance 2019–2024 The UK’s five-year national action plan (24 January 2019)

Summary

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global problem that impacts all countries and all people, regardless of their wealth or status. The scale of the AMR threat, and the need to contain and control it, is widely acknowledged by country governments, international agencies, researchers and private companies alike.

This document sets out the UK’s 2019–2024 national action plan to tackle AMR within and beyond our own borders. Developed in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders across different sectors, it builds on the achievements of our last strategy (2013–2018), and is aligned with global plans and frameworks for action. The plan has ultimately been designed to ensure progress towards our 20-year vision on AMR, in which resistance is effectively contained and controlled.

It focuses on three key ways of tackling AMR:

• reducing need for, and unintentional exposure to, antimicrobials;
• optimising use of antimicrobials
• investing in innovation, supply and access.