Source: New Zealand Ministry of Health
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a significant and growing public health threat which affects patients and communities, and threatens to undermine the modern health system. AMR can also have serious negative impacts on animal health, welfare and production, and the environment.
The New Zealand Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan was published in 2017 to enable coordinated, cross-agency national action to minimise the impacts of AMR on New Zealand.
In March 2022, the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor released Kotahitanga: Uniting Aotearoa against infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance.
Many of the themes and recommendations in the Kotahitanga report align with, and build on, the Action Plan. This publication notes that progress has been made on a number of the recommendations in the Kotahitanga report, as well as acknowledging that there is more work to do. The Ministries of Health and Primary Industries are working together on a new cross-agency AMR strategy to update and drive ongoing action.
