World Antibiotic Awareness Week

The World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW), also known as World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, is an annual event conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO). This idea was put forward for the first time in Europe in 2007.

A global action plan to tackle the growing problem of resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines was endorsed at the Sixty-eighth World Health Assembly in May 2015. One of the key objectives of the plan is to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education and training.

Celebrated annually, the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) aims to increase awareness of global antimicrobial resistance and to encourage best practices among the general public, health workers and policy makers to avoid the further emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.