National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR) 2025-2031.

The United Arab Emirates National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR) 2025-2031 is a strategic, multi-sectoral initiative designed to combat the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Building upon the achievements and lessons learnt from the previous 2019-2023 plan, this new action plan aims to preserve the effectiveness of antimicrobials for future generations through a comprehensive “One Health” approach, encompassing human health, animal health, agriculture, and the environment. This plan prioritizes key areas such as: (i) strengthening Governance by formalizing the National AMR Committee and its subcommittees with expanded representation from all relevant sectors.; (ii) enhancing Awareness and Education by implementing continuous public awareness campaigns and integrating AMR education into professional licensing, undergraduate, and school curricula; (iii) reinforcing Surveillance and Research by expanding AMR surveillance across human, animal, and environmental sectors, establishing a national AMR reference laboratory, and promoting collaborative research; (iv) improving Infection Prevention and Control (IPC): Developing and implementing national IPC guidelines, mandating IPC training, and conducting Healthcare-associated infection (HAI) surveillance; (v) optimizing Antimicrobial Use by implementing robust antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) in healthcare and in veterinary settings and monitoring antimicrobial consumption; (vi) promoting Innovation and Investment by encouraging the development of new diagnostics, vaccines, antimicrobials, addressing health disparities and incorporating artificial intelligence; (vii) One Health Approach by strengthening surveillance and collaboration across human, animal, and environmental sectors to address the spread of AMR.
The Action Plan sets out the following main objectives (i) Improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through effective communication, education and training: This objective, aligned with the World Health Organization Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2015), seeks to enhance awareness and understanding of AMR across human health, animal health, agriculture, and environmental sectors through coordinated communication strategies, targeted education programs, and professional training initiatives, thereby fostering informed behaviors, responsible antimicrobial use, and a culture of prevention across all relevant settings; (ii) Strengthen the knowledge and evidence base through surveillance and research: This objective aims to enable decision-making based on robust and reliable surveillance data by strengthening national surveillance systems, promoting high-quality research, and improving data collection and analysis mechanisms to generate timely, accurate, and actionable evidence that informs policies, clinical practices, and public health interventions related to AMR; (iii) Reduce the incidence of infection through effective sanitation, hygiene, and infection prevention measures: This objective seeks to reduce the need for, and unintentional exposure to, antimicrobials by adopting a whole-system approach to infection prevention and control (IPC), enhancing sanitation and hygiene standards, improving diagnostics and treatment practices across humans, animals, agriculture, and the environment, increasing vaccination coverage, and promoting sustained public engagement and education to support preventive behaviors; (iv) Optimize the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health: This objective focuses on preserving the future effectiveness of antimicrobials by ensuring appropriate prescribing, dispensing, and disposal practices, strengthening antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP), creating an AMR-competent workforce across human health, veterinary, and agricultural sectors, implementing clinical decision-support systems and regulatory frameworks, and applying behavioral interventions to promote responsible antimicrobial use; (v) Develop a UAE-specific economic case for sustainable investment and increase investment in new medicines, diagnostics, vaccines, and other interventions: This objective emphasizes innovation, supply, and equitable access by encouraging the life sciences sector to prioritize the development of new diagnostic tools, vaccines to prevent infections, and novel antimicrobials, while addressing health disparities and inequalities within the UAE by identifying regions and populations with the highest AMR burden to better target interventions, and ensuring adequate investment in advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence and big data analytics, to strengthen AMR surveillance and antimicrobial stewardship efforts; (vi) Adopt and strengthen the One Health approach: This objective promotes cross-sector collaboration to enhance integrated surveillance systems that collect and analyze data on resistant microorganisms from humans, animals, agriculture, and the environment, fostering cooperation among public health officials, veterinarians, environmental scientists, agricultural experts, and the private sector to improve the capacity to measure, predict, and understand the transmission of resistant microorganisms across sectors, while investing in infrastructure, laboratory capacity, standardized data management systems, and workforce training to build sustainable national surveillance capabilities; (vii) Advance AMR diplomacy and global engagement: This additional objective supports international cooperation and policy alignment in the areas of prevention and preparedness, equitable access and stewardship, responsible antimicrobial use in farming, and the establishment and enforcement of standards for manufacturing and waste management, thereby strengthening national and global efforts to contain AMR through coordinated diplomatic, regulatory, and technical action.