AMR Surveillance in Health Sector

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance in the health sector is vital to global efforts to combat drug-resistant pathogens. It involves systematically collecting, analysing, and sharing data to guide treatment, inform policy, and improve infection prevention and control. Surveillance enables early detection of emerging resistance patterns, quantifies the disease burden, and assesses the success of interventions. Key components of national AMR systems include a National Coordinating Centre, a National Reference Laboratory, and sentinel surveillance sites, which collectively ensure the accurate generation and reporting of data. WHO’s GLASS provides standardised methods to harmonise reporting internationally. Regional and multicountry networks such as EARS-Net, ReLAVRA+, and CAESAR also facilitate coordinated responses. Countries such as the US and India have developed national networks for resistance monitoring and public health guidance. Despite these advances, challenges such as limited funding, weak laboratory capacity, fragmented systems, poor data quality, and uneven global coverage persist. Overcoming these requires political will, adoption of One Health strategies, investment in laboratory and workforce infrastructure, and implementation of standardised reporting. Effective AMR surveillance is essential to safeguard antimicrobial effectiveness and ensure global health security.