World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2025: EU4Health projects combatting antimicrobial resistance

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week draws attention to the urgent need to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR). AMR threatens decades of medical progress, rendering antibiotics ineffective against resistant strains.  

The World Health Organization (WHO) advocates for immediate action with this year's theme, "Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future", focusing on improving surveillance, access to medicines, innovation and building resilient health systems.  

The EU is playing a pivotal role in this joint fight against AMR through several initiatives funded under the EU4Health programme. 

AMR-Educare: Training for the healthcare workforce 

AMR-Educare, EduCation on Antimicrobial REsistance for the health workforce, has successfully educated over 6259 health professionals through a 15-module training programme. The training addressed educational gaps in prescription practices, waste management and patient empowerment, promoting behavioural change and digital health skills for a resilient healthcare sector. Tailored modules are available for doctors, pharmacists, nurses, and healthcare managers on Lecturio until April 2027 (upon free registration).  

AMR-MT-WGS: Advanced surveillance in Malta 

The AMR-MT-WGS initiative in Malta has introduced molecular techniques such as whole genome sequencing to better understand how antimicrobial resistance develops. This helps improve AMR surveillance, outbreak investigation and infection-control measures and promote the development of countermeasures. This project highlights the importance of genomic data integration for pathogen identification and aligns with international efforts to bolster genomic capacities across EU countries.  

AMR-MT-WGS is one of the 21 direct grants awarded to 25 EU countries to enhance genomic sequencing capacities for pathogen characterisation, identification and outbreak detection. 

IMAGINE: Reducing antibiotic use in nursing homes 

Targeting nursing homes in eight European countries, IMAGINE has successfully reduced antibiotic misuse through developing materials such as posters, leaflets, and interventions tailored to the needs of the countries and the nursing homes. Over 100 nursing homes have implemented these strategies, improving infection prevention and lowering costs. The project's toolkit is available in many languages and applicable for use in other countries. 

EU-JAMRAI2: Illustrative AMR campaign 

EU-JAMRAI2 merges art and science to heighten AMR awareness with its "Sketching Antimicrobial Resistance" campaign. Featuring illustrations from artists across Europe, the campaign emphasises responsible medicine use and hygiene practices. The campaign is already available digitally and will evolve into printed exhibits in major cities in 2026. 

Ongoing contract on tuberculosis formulations for children in the EU 

The lack of age-appropriate tuberculosis treatments for children in Europe leads to reduced compliance and increased AMR risk. Addressing this, HaDEA has signed a contract (HADEA/2023/OP/0052) to accelerate the development and accessibility of anti-tuberculosis medicines for children. This contract includes clinical and non-clinical services to finalise product development for market authorisation in the EU, a vital step in combatting AMR. 

Background 

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and calls for tenders from 2021 to 2027.