CommunicationPublished on 19 November 2025

“Act Now”: International awareness week on antimicrobial resistance

Between 18 and 24 November, the international community will be focusing on the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in order to raise awareness among the general public, experts and politicians. Switzerland will also be participating in this initiative.

World AMR Awareness Week

World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) is an annual event that runs from 18 to 24 November. “Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future” is this year’s motto. In Switzerland, the Swiss Strategy on Antibiotic Resistance (StAR) supports the awareness week and, in line with the motto, promotes the responsible use of antibiotics.

Every year, Switzerland responds to the call from four key international organisations – the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) – and actively participates in World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW).

Various activities

WAAW 2025 will see various activities conducted throughout the week under the motto of “Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future” both in Switzerland and worldwide. In the activities list on the StAR website you will find a host of exciting events and activities organised by a wide range of stakeholders involved in WAAW 2025 on the topics of one health, the prescription and use of antibiotics, antimicrobial resistance and supporting tools.

You will find answers to important questions regarding antibiotics and antimicrobial resistance on the Federal Government’s star.admin.ch platform.

The website has been extensively revised ahead of the start of this year’s World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW). It offers professionals and the general public easy access to the latest information, materials, programmes and projects in the field of antimicrobial resistance.

• About the Swiss Strategy on Antibiotic Resistance (StAR)

  “Use wisely, take precisely”

  Growing antibiotic resistance is a global threat to humans and animals – in Switzerland, too. If we are to continue to have effective antibiotics, we must use them responsibly. So anyone who is prescribed antibiotics must ensure that these are taken and disposed of correctly.

  Various actions have been initiated and pursued since the Swiss Strategy on Antibiotic Resistance (StAR) was adopted in 2016. They have been successful, too: the consumption of antibiotics in Switzerland has been reduced, and the growth of such resistance has been stabilised for now.

  The global problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to grow, however, and makes AMR one of the most urgent challenges faced by the healthcare systems of the 21st Century. For Switzerland it is crucial that StAR continues to be pursued with both vigour and precision, and with due and full regard to all the latest findings in the field.

  To these ends, the Federal Council has resolved to comprehensively strengthen the country’s pursuit of StAR through a range of binding, innovative and sustainable measures which have all been incorporated into the StAR 2024-2027 One Health Action Plan.

  The StAR One Health Action Plan is being jointly implemented by the FOPH, the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO), the Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). The four federal offices are working closely to these ends with the country’s cantons and with numerous further stakeholders from the human and animal health, the agricultural and the environmental fields.

Further information

• Link

  Information material | bundespublikationen.admin.ch

  Further information and material on WAAW will be found on the WHO, ECDC and WOAH websites.

  If you’d like to receive regular updates on StAR, sign up for our StAR Newsletter.