The World Health Organization in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Jordan organized a 3-day antimicrobial resistance leadership workshop between 30 June and 2 July which focused on how to implement a multisectoral approach to Jordan’s national action plan for antimicrobial resistance. 

The workshop brought together participants from the human, animal and environmental health sectors and included activities that aimed to build participants' negotiation skills in bringing stakeholders together to reduce the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. 

During the workshop the WHO Assistant Director General for Antimicrobial Resistance Dr Hanan Balkhy addressed the participants and said that antimicrobial resistance was now one of the top 10 global threats to public health and requires a coordinated response.

On behalf of WHO Representative to Jordan, Dr Bassem Zayed Coordinator of Antimicrobial Resistance at the WHO Jordan country office stressed during the opening of the workshop that antimicrobial resistance has caused an increased burden on health care systems in Jordan. He also added that WHO Jordan was working together with the Ministry of Health to establish a comprehensive national system for antimicrobial resistance surveillance and to educate the community about the dangers of antimicrobial resistance.

On his part the Secretary General for Primary Health Care and Epidemiology at the Jordanian Ministry of Health Dr Raed Al-Shboul highlighted that human, animal and environmental sector collaboration was vital to achieve an effective response to Jordan’s antimicrobial resistance national action plan which adopts a one health approach. 

Antimicrobial resistance is a silent pandemic that continues to threaten the effective prevention and treatment of an ever-increasing range of infections. WHO is therefore increasing its efforts in bringing relevant stakeholders together in order to ensure that Jordan has a multisectoral and collaborative approach in its fight against antimicrobial resistance.