BACKGROUND :

In 2016, the Political Declaration of the high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on antimicrobial resistance represented a landmark in the world’s commitment to tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and called for greater urgency and action in response to the many challenges it poses. Member States requested the Secretary General, in consultation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to convene an ad hoc interagency coordination group (IACG) co-chaired by the Executive Office of the Secretary General and WHO to provide practical guidance for approaches needed to ensure sustained, effective global action to address AMR. It also requested the Secretary General to submit a report for consideration by Member States by the seventy-third session of the General Assembly in 2019 on the implementation of the political declaration and on further developments and recommendations emanating from the IACG, including on options to improve coordination, taking into account the Global Action Plan on AMR. The IACG will submit is recommendations and report to the Secretary General in May 2019. To ensure a swift and universal breakthrough in the global fight against AMR, the IACG is seeking feedback from a wide range of stakeholders before finalizing its report.