In response, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, has urged the United States to reconsider, highlighting the organisation’s crucial role in addressing the root causes of disease, strengthening health systems, and detecting, preventing, and responding to health emergencies.

As one of the world’s leading networks of infection specialists, with thousands of members across the globe, BSAC echoes Dr Ghebreyesus’s call for solidarity. For years, WHO has been at the forefront of the global response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), assisting countries in developing and implementing national action plans, promoting antimicrobial stewardship, and supporting mass vaccination and infection prevention and control programmes – all of which are vital in countering the rise of AMR.

Thanks to WHO’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS), which monitors and reports on antimicrobial resistance, we know that AMR is spreading at an alarming rate. Like the climate crisis, AMR is a global problem requiring a coordinated approach. WHO has played a key role in this effort, coordinating local and regional interventions worldwide.

As the world’s most powerful country and a founding member of WHO, the United States has a critical role in addressing AMR. As Dr Ghebreyesus notes, for over seven decades, WHO and the United States have worked together to save countless lives and protect people from health threats. It would be a profound loss if, at a time when the world faces one of its greatest health crises, the United States were to end this vital partnership.