3 September 2025
Distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most urgent threats to global health, development, and security. It jeopardizes our ability to treat common infections, threatens food security, and erodes decades of progress in health. This is a rapidly evolving challenge—growing in scope, scale, and complexity.
The adoption of Resolution WHA77.6 at the 77th World Health Assembly, together with the 2024 UN General Assembly Political Declaration on AMR, has reaffirmed the urgency to update the 2015 Global Action Plan. This update must reflect new evidence, evolving pathogens, persistent inequities, and the need for a more inclusive, actionable, and accountable One Health response.
Today’s consultation is an essential step in shaping that response. While our focus is on the human health sector, our Quadripartite partners—FAO, WOAH, and UNEP—are leading complementary consultations in their domains. The insights you share today will directly inform the next GAP, ensuring it is anchored in the realities, priorities, and needs of the Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Our Region faces unique challenges: fragile health systems, protracted conflicts, humanitarian crises, and limited access to essential health services. Yet it also offers strong examples of leadership and innovation—such as the interministerial conferences hosted by Oman in 2022 and Saudi Arabia in 2024, which set ambitious targets and launched concrete initiatives.
In 2019, I had the honour of becoming WHO’s first-ever Assistant Director-General for AMR—a milestone in elevating this issue on the global health agenda, and one in which our Region has played a central role.
The global survey to inform the new GAP drew input from nearly 400 stakeholders, including 13 of our Member States. Their priorities were clear:
Equity and access—particularly for low- and middle-income countries—to quality antimicrobials, diagnostics, and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.
Stronger governance, financing, and accountability.
Robust surveillance, community engagement, and innovation in diagnostics and treatment.
Embedding the One Health approach—in principle and in practice.
I urge you to be bold, candid, and forward-looking today. Let us shape a GAP that is technically sound, operationally feasible, and socially just—addressing the social determinants and gender dimensions of AMR—so that our Region’s needs are fully reflected in global priorities and resources.
Together, we can secure a future where effective antimicrobials remain a cornerstone of health and development for all.
