Antimicrobial resistance and Universal Health Coverage
Future Health Systems
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health concern with economic, social and political implications that are global in scope, and cross all environmental and ethnic boundaries. As a global threat, AMR risks the achievements of modern medicine, and has the potential to impact overall global development. It is important, therefore, to elevate AMR beyond health as part of a larger development agenda in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This report provides in-depth technical discussions in areas that have direct implications to the containment of AMR as a development agenda. The report is organized in five chapters which served as the technical background documents for the Biregional Technical Consultation on AMR in Asia, 14-15 April 2016. More information from the meeting is available in the WHO Meeting Report: Biregional Technical Consultation on Antimicrobial Resistance in Asia. The meeting was the first time senior officials from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture across Asia came together to tackle AMR.
Chapter two highlights priorities for an integrated approach for addressing AMR by strengthening universal health coverage (UHC). It focuses on the use of drugs in outpatient settings. The chapter gives particular consideration to low- and middle-income countries with pluralistic health systems, where government provision and health markets combine and where people seek treatment for a large proportion of common infections in weakly regulated markets.