On 14 May 2025, the Global Strategy Lab (GSL) and the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform co-hosted a virtual knowledge exchange on the role of social science in shaping the forthcoming update to the Global Action Plan (GAP) on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). The dialogue brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to explore how social science perspectives can address the persistent challenges in AMR governance and implementation and help build a more robust, inclusive, and future-proof strategy against AMR.
A decade of change and ongoing gaps
The landscape of AMR has evolved significantly since the original GAP was adopted in 2015. While the GAP initiated a crucial multisectoral conversation, human health perspectives have often remained dominant, with uneven attention to the interconnected roles of animal, plant, and environmental sectors. Ten years later, the implementation gaps are evident: only 11% of countries have dedicated funding for their national action plans, just 52% report having functional multisectoral coordination mechanisms, and 68% are actively implementing their plans. Critical priorities such as environmental protection, sustainable financing, education and training, water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH), and infection prevention and control (IPC) are frequently underrepresented. Furthermore, dimensions of equity—such as gender, disability, and human rights—are rarely integrated.
The recently adopted UN General Assembly Political Declaration on AMR calls on the Quadripartite organizations (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH)), in consultation with Member States, to update the GAP by 2026 to ensure a multisectoral One Health response that reflects today’s realities. But how do we achieve this ambitious goal?
Reframing the AMR narrative: three social science lenses
Participants in the virtual dialogue discussed three conceptual frameworks focusing on social sciences that can help reshape the GAP to be more responsive, inclusive of all sectors and dimensions and effective. The basis for these three social sciences has been documented in the GSL policy brief, “Using Social Sciences to Inform the Global Action Plan on AMR” and is outlined below.
1. AMR as a collective action problem
AMR is not only a scientific issue but also a social one, driven by the competing interests and limited incentives of individual actors. Without coordinated, system-wide responses, efforts to reduce AMR remain fragmented and ineffective. This framing underscores the importance of fostering cooperation across sectors, levels of governance, and political contexts, while also addressing market failures that hinder innovation.
2. Antimicrobials as infrastructure
Antimicrobials are more than just medicines, they are a form of infrastructure that underpins modern agriculture, healthcare, and livelihoods. From livestock production to surgery, clean water to workforce productivity, antimicrobials enable systems that many communities depend on. Viewing antimicrobials through this lens highlights the need for sustained public investment and systems thinking, particularly in low-resource settings.
3. Socio-ecological dynamics
AMR is a natural and ongoing process. Human behavior, ecological change, and microbial evolution form an interconnected cycle. Recognizing these dynamics requires long-term institutional approaches that promote sustainable co-existence with microbes, rather than short-term efforts to ‘win a war.’ It also invites the integration of underrepresented voices—urban planners, environmental regulators, sustainable farming industries—into the AMR conversation.
Pathways to a more effective Global Action Plan (GAP)
Drawing on these frameworks, the dialogue highlighted several actionable solutions to inform the updated GAP:
1. Enhance social mobilization and education
- Invest in AMR education, from school curricula to community engagement and ensure clear indicators and metrics of measuring the success in the education and awareness raising campaigns.
- Foster democratic and participatory budgetary planning processes to build collective ownership of AMR solutions across sectors.
2. Address innovation gaps with creative financing
- Introduce novel incentive mechanisms such as subscription models, data exclusivity vouchers, and other push-pull tools and incentives to support the development of new antimicrobials, while paying attention to access and ensuring that both concepts are not exclusive.
3. Incentivize cross-sectoral and cross-government cooperation
- Strengthen coordination across human, animal, and environmental sectors.
- Build linkages between supranational, regional, national, and local governance to overcome fragmented responses.
4. Invest in antimicrobials as essential infrastructure
- Treat antimicrobials as long-term infrastructure requiring consistent investment, comparable to roads, water systems, or energy grids.
- Acknowledge the dependency of vulnerable populations on antimicrobials and address underlying social and health inequities.
5. Adopt a whole-of-society One Health approach
- Include stakeholders beyond health: urban planners, environmental ministries, agrifood industries, and civil society.
- Promote sustainable ecological systems that reduce reliance on antimicrobials in the first place.
6. Balance necessary use with ecological sustainability
- Recognize the need for antimicrobials while avoiding overuse that accelerates resistance.
- Identify the “social floor” of access and the “ecological ceiling” of sustainability and build governance systems that navigate this balance.
Addressing AMR is ultimately about systems—social, ecological, economic, and political. By embracing these social science perspectives and prioritizing equity, sustainability, and collective action, we can co-create a future Global Action Plan that not only responds to today’s challenges but also paves the way for lasting impact.
The recording of the event is available HERE (Passcode: F7=RUf5%)