Antimicrobial Stewardship

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been identified as one of the most pressing global challenges we face this century. In fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared AMR as one of the top 10 global public health threats, and AMR is listed on the UK Government’s National Risk Register.

In 2019 there were 4.95 million deaths associated with bacterial AMR across 204 countries, and 1.27 million of those were directly attributed, leading the WHO to declare it a top global public health threat.

To confront AMR, the 2024 to 2029 national action plan has nine strategic outcomes organised under four themes.

Mersey Care can have a huge impact on Theme 1 and Theme 2:

Theme 1 - reducing the need for, and unintentional exposure to, antimicrobials

This theme has three outcomes:

1. Infection prevention and control and infection management - this outcome aims to reduce exposure to antimicrobials through a whole-systems approach to infection prevention and control (IPC), improved diagnostics and treatment in different settings (humans, animals, agriculture and the environment).
2. Public engagement and education - this aims to empower and engage the public on the risk of exposure to antimicrobials.
3. Strengthened surveillance - this aims to improve understanding of AMR through capability to measure, predict and understand how resistant microorganisms spread across and between humans, animals, agriculture and the environment.

Theme 2 - optimising the use of antimicrobials

This theme has two outcomes:

1. Antimicrobial stewardship and disposal - this aims to improve the use of antimicrobials to preserve future effectiveness.
2. AMR workforce - this aims to raise awareness with the workforce in human health, animal health and agriculture to improve the optimal use of antimicrobials.

The remaining themes, theme 3 - investing in innovation, supply and access and theme 4 - being a good global partner are for the wider system to affect.