Antimicrobial Resistance

About AMR

What is it?
What is it?
FAO's role
FAO's role
Who we are
Who we are
Key sectors
Key sectors

Antimicrobial drugs are key in the treatment of diseases, and their use is essential to protect both human and animal health. However, antimicrobials misuse in the livestock sector, aquaculture and crop production is a major concern as a risk for emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistant micro-organisms.

Key facts

In 2019, 5 million human deaths were associated by bacterial antimicrobial resistance worldwide, including 1.3 million human deaths attributable to bacterial AMR (The Lancet)

27 different antimicrobial classes used in animals

Total global animal health market in 2011 was equivalent to USD 22 billion (OECD)

118 countries reported quantitative data on antimicrobial use in animals between 2015 and 2017, an increase from 89 reporting in 2015

Publications

How prevention can reduce the need for antibiotics

Pathways to Reduce the Need for Antimicrobials on Farms for Sustainable Agrifood Systems Transformation (RENOFARM)

Reduce the Need for Antimicrobials for Sustainable Agrifood System Transformation (RENOFARM) - Innovation, technologies and hand-in-hand partnerships to address antimicrobial resistance for healthier agrifood systems

The Reduce the Need for Antimicrobials for Sustainable Agrifood Systems Transformation (RENOFARM) initiative, officially launched on April 25-26, 2024, is a ten-year global programme and FAO’s response to the aforementioned high-level recommendations and requests.

Antimicrobial use practices in the livestock sector in Kosovo

The Understanding Antimicrobial Use in Food and Agriculture series is a compilation of country reports, each describing antimicrobial use (AMU) practices and awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the livestock sector.

News

UNGA79: World leaders commit to decisive action on antimicrobial resistance

FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH welcome agreement at UN General Assembly meeting, including target to reduce human deaths from AMR by 10 percent by 2030

4th Global Conference on Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance: Advancing Global Cooperation

Seoul, Republic of Korea – Thanawat Tiensin, Assistant Director-General (ADG) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), delivered a congratulatory speech at the opening of the 4th Global Conference on Foodborne [...]

Advancing Global AMR Action

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) have taken a leading role in [...]

Multimedia

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