Pan-Canadian Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance.

The Pan-Canadian Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2023-2027) establishes federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) commitments on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) over the next 5 years (2023 to 2027). Ten priority actions will guide Canada’s multi-sectoral and multi-jurisdictional efforts across 5 pillars: research and innovation; surveillance; stewardship; infection prevention and control (IPC); and leadership. Section 1 of the Action Plan provides an overview of AMR and its impacts in Canada and globally as of late-2022. This section outlines the rationale for a collaborative One Health approach across jurisdictions and sectors to address AMR. Section 2 describes how the Action Plan was developed and what it sets out to achieve. The Action Plan and its implementation will be guided by the following principles: One Health; Equity; Collaboration (domestic & international); Momentum. Section 3 introduces 10 priority actions across the 5 pillars. Section 4 includes an overview of partners and stakeholders involved in Canada’s AMR response. It describes how implementation of the action plan will be monitored.
The ten priority Actions are: 1) Develop and implement economic and/or regulatory incentives to support innovation and facilitate sustainable access to new and existing antimicrobials, diagnostics, and alternatives to antimicrobials; 2)Develop a One Health, national research strategy for combating AMR across all action plan pillars; 3) Expand sources, coverage and integration of AMR and AMU surveillance data, including the use of modern laboratory technologies and standardized reporting, to help monitor AMR/ AMU across One Health sectors, with specific focus on improving data from the environment; transmission pathways between sectors; and population groups disproportionately impacted by AMR and inappropriate AMU; 4) Work with partners to: establish baselines and targets for national, provincial and territorial levels of AMR and appropriate AMU in human health and to establish baselines, goals and measures of progress for increasing appropriate AMU and reducing AMR in the agriculture and agri-food sectors; 5) Develop, implement and promote guidelines/standards for appropriate AMU in humans and animals through policy and regulatory initiatives, monitoring and educational interventions/ accreditation requirements for health professionals and prescriber; 6) Foster understanding of the risks of AMR and the importance of appropriate use of antimicrobials in humans and animals amongst the public, patients and producers through awareness/ education campaigns, feedback mechanisms and policy and regulatory initiatives; 7) Increase effective implementation of infection prevention measures, particularly for populations disproportionately impacted by AMR such as remote, northern and isolated communities, First Nations, Inuit and Métis populations, long-term care residents, and hospitalized patients by developing, updating and promoting uptake of guidelines/best practices for human health; 8) Support the increased implementation of enhanced IPC, biosecurity, and food safety protocols across the agriculture and agri-food sectors, prioritizing sound animal husbandry, access to veterinary care, and access to additional health and nutritional aids to promote animal health; 9) Build on existing One Health AMR governance structures to create a “network of networks” with inclusive representation to support action plan implementation and share progress and lessons learned within and across the 5 pillars of action, prioritizing strengthened FPT, First Nations, Inuit and Métis collaboration to co-develop AMR actions; 10) Increase Canada’s contributions to global efforts to advance key bilateral and multilateral commitments by prioritizing: generating improved data/ evidence on AMR/AMU and strengthening surveillance systems and data standards and expanding efforts to support low and middle income countries by advancing equitable access, stewardship and IPC initiatives.