Antimicrobial resistance: addressing the global threat through greater awareness and transformative action.

Antimicrobial therapies have played an unquestionably important role in advancing modern medical and surgical care, treating animals, reducing the global burden of communicable disease, and prolonging human life expectancy. These transformational benefits are threatened because of the rapidly advancing phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance. As a result of complex factors across many sectors and international actors, the global impact of antimicrobial resistance is an escalating economic and health crisis. This article draws on the collective expertise and summit report of the Antimicrobial Resistance Working Group from the 2013 World Innovation Summit for Health, in Doha, Qatar. It defines a framework of principles and tasks for key policy makers to raise international awareness of antimicrobial resistance and lead transformative action through policy-driven improvements in sanitation, antimicrobial conservation, agricultural practices, and research and development.