1 December 2022 – World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is an annual global campaign that aims to increase awareness about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and to encourage best practices among the general public, health workers, farmers, animal health professionals and policy-makers to avoid the further emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.

In line with this year’s theme “Preventing antimicrobial resistance together” the World Health Organization in Jordan organized a series of events and activities to increase public awareness of AMR and increase cross-sectoral collaboration acknowledging AMR as a global threat to humans, animals, plants and the environment.

Marking the start of the Week, under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Alia Bint Al Hussein, the World Health Organization, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture held a high-level meeting to discuss the threat of AMR in Jordan and ways to further raise public awareness. The event was attended by the Minster of Health H.E Professor Firas Hawari and the Minister of Agriculture H.E Khalid Heneifat in addition to key AMR stakeholders.

The WHO country office in Jordan and partners engaged in activities with schools such as storytelling, face painting and art competitions, in collaboration with the Royal Health Awareness Society.

WHO together with Jordan University, Jordan Student Pharmaceutical Association and the Jordan Association for Dental Students also organized an awareness-raising walk at the university and a seminar was held at the Hashemite University that discussed the rational use of antimicrobials.

A twitter storm event was held that brought together communication colleagues from different stakeholders from ministries, United Nations agencies and nongovernmental organizations in combined efforts to disseminate key AMR messages. As a result, 3 hashtags about AMR trended in Jordan for the whole day.

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is a global campaign that is celebrated annually to improve awareness and understanding of AMR and encourage best practices among the public, One Health stakeholders and policy-makers, who all play a critical role in reducing the further emergence and spread of AMR. The challenges of AMR are complex and multifaceted which is why WHO continues to call for a multisectoral approach to address the threat and increase collaboration to collectively combat AMR in Jordan.