World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2026

World AMR Awareness Week is a global campaign to raise awareness and understanding of AMR and promote safe and sustainable use of antibiotics to reduce the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.  

For World AMR Awareness Week, we're asking for your support in sharing our 'One Health, One Action: Prevent AMR Now' campaign resources. These resources aim to raise awareness of key actions everyone can take to help address the threat of AMR ahead of and including World AMR Awareness Week in November.  

This year, we will focus on six key messages:  

1. Don't share antibiotics with others: Taking leftover antibiotics can be dangerous and could make the problem of antibiotic resistance worse.
2. Follow your healthcare professional’s advice: Antibiotics don't work on viruses like the common cold or flu.
3. Wash your hands regularly: Help stop the spread of antibiotic-resistant infection.
4. Follow your vet’s instructions when giving your pets antibiotics: protect our animals from the threat of antibiotic resistance.
5. Take unused medicines back to the pharmacy: Throwing antibiotics in bins, sinks, or toilets can harm the environment.
6. Prevent pollution, reduce resistance: Keeping pollutants such as medicines and disinfectants out of the environment can help slow the spread of antimicrobial resistance.

Stakeholder Toolkit  

The Antimicrobial Resistance Stakeholder Toolkit outlines all the resources available to help share key messages and includes:  

• A letter from Chief and Senior Officers in the Scottish Government encouraging participation in the campaign 
• Social media assets including imagery, animations and video  
• Posters 
• Leaflets 
• Quiz questions and answers 
• Web banner  

All campaign resources can be found via the SG Communications Resource Centre - Antimicrobial Resistance

How You Can Help

We would very much appreciate your help in sharing these important messages by:  

• Sharing the social media imagery, animations and video via your social channels  
• Encouraging your colleagues to take part in our quiz 
• Re-sharing content via the Healthier Scotland Facebook page and other relevant pages  
• Signposting your audiences to links to further information  
• Displaying the downloadable poster  

Thank you for helping us by doing your part to ensure the continuing safety of antibiotics. If you have any questions on any of the above, please don't hesitate to get in touch.