Jean Pierre Nyemazi
Acting Director, Global Coordination and Partnership Department and Quadripartite Joint Secretariat on AMR (WHO)
In a historic step forward, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted the High-Level Meeting (HLM) Political Declaration on AMR in October 2024.
This unprecedented international commitment reflects the global community’s recognition of AMR as one of the most urgent global threats. The UNGA HLM political declaration on AMR provides hope for an effective, coordinated and transformative response. Part of this is aiming for a 10% reduction in human deaths due to AMR by 2030, taking 2019 as the baseline.1
Actions in human and animal health
In human health, the declaration urges all countries to address AMR through prevention of drug-resistant infections; vaccination and routine immunisation; effective diagnostic and laboratory infrastructure; and provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
In agriculture and animal health, the declaration recognises the critical importance of reducing non-veterinary use of antimicrobials, disease prevention and animal welfare measures. This includes vaccination and good animal husbandry practices.
Actions in the environmental sector
For the first time, the declaration recognises that environmental factors contribute to the development and spread of AMR. It also highlights the need for priority actions to prevent and address the discharge of antimicrobials and their metabolites into the environment.
Part of this is aiming for a 10% reduction
in human deaths due to AMR by 2030.
Coordinated and multisectoral AMR response
The declaration emphasises sustained and accountable political leadership and ownership of the response to AMR at the national level, as well as the need for international cooperation. It recognises the central coordinating role of the Quadripartite organisations. It requests them to establish an independent panel on evidence for action on AMR by 2025 and update the Global Action Plan on AMR by 2026 to ensure a robust multisectoral response
The declaration calls for strengthening sustainable AMR financing, particularly for low and middle-income countries. It sets the target of achieving a modest USD 100 million. This will catalyse the achievement of 60% of countries having funded national AMR action plans by 2030.2 Recognising that additional resources will be essential; it will help sustain and accelerate a long-term response to AMR at both global and national levels.
Turning words into action
The UNGA HLM was a significant milestone. However, it will only be considered a landmark event if the words of the political declaration are followed up with global solidarity, broad multisectoral collaboration, increased investment and the determined actions needed to respond to AMR at scale and with the urgency required. The stakes are clear — without concerted effort, AMR could undo a century of progress in modern medicine.
[1] Murray, Christopher J. L. et. al. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. The Lancet, Volume 399, Issue 10325, 629 – 655.
[2] Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance, United Nations, 2024.
