At the APEC Health Working Group (HWG) meeting held on Aug 12-13, 2014 in Beijing, China, the ‘APEC guideline to tackle antimicrobial resistance in the Asia-Pacific’ which was developed by Asia Pacific Foundation for Infectious Diseases (APFID) was presented and endorsed by APEC HWG as one of HWG deliverables in 2014.

APEC leaders recognized the importance of health and mentioned that they would support the efforts to address health issues across sectors and encourage further steps to strengthen health system. Also, the priority goal of HWG is to build resilient health systems by enhancing preparedness for effective, equitable, and efficient management of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases including antimicrobial resistance (AMR) infections. Therefore, APEC has been supporting serial projects to set up the future strategies to control and prevent AMR in the Asia-Pacific region since 2010.

The APEC guideline to tackle AMR was prepared based on the serial APEC projects performed by APFID since 2010. The purpose of the APEC guideline is to envision and implement the future strategies for prevention and control of AMR in the Asia-Pacific region.

The APEC guideline to tackle AMR is primarily based on the strategic action plan to control and prevent AMR in the Asia-Pacific, consisting of six major components; Surveillance of AMR and antibiotic use, increased awareness of AMR, appropriate use of effective antibiotics, infection prevention and control, vaccination, and policy and regulation.