Changes made to UK action plan on AMR

ABSTRACT

On 16 May 2022, the UK Government announced changes to the commitments made in the UK 5-year national action plan to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The national action plan is in its third year of delivery and these changes were required to meet the commitments. In total, 93 commitments have been reworded, 17 new commitments have been added, and eight commitments have been removed. As well as reflecting lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, the proposed changes aim to (1) improve the surveillance of AMR and antimicrobial use;(2) improve the availability of data to better understand the prevalence of AMR across human health and animals;(3) reflect priorities identified by the UK AMR Research Programme to explore and evaluate antimicrobial use, prescribing, new therapeutics, diagnostics, stewardship and resistance across both human health and animals;(4) reflect the particular role the UK is playing internationally in non-traditional and informal political groupings, including supporting the UK Special Envoy on AMR and taking a lead role in AMR interest groups;and (5) introduce 4 new commitments to reduce urinary tract infections (UTIs), in support of the national action plan ambition to halve healthcare associated Gram-negative bloodstream infections (GNBSIs) by 2024.