Insufficient public awareness and understanding of the risks posed by AMR limits both behaviour change which supports mitigation of AMR and also public pressure on policy makers to commit to action. Principles of a global AMR communications strategy must have ownership at a country level. Any communications strategy must be clear regarding the outcomes (raising awareness, driving behaviour change, calling for commitments such as funding or policy change) to be achieved and the target audience. Focus should be on driving positive behaviour change, not increasing fear. In both the human and animal health sector, increased peer to peer awareness of AMR and behaviour change would help mitigate transfer of AMR resistance.
Mobilisation of the patient voice can make a significant contribution to raising awareness and understanding within communities. Peer to peer education across professionals working across One Health: doctors, nurses, veterinarians, pharmacists, allied health workers and farmers is critical to addressing AMR. Groups who can be mobilised to deliver communications and raise awareness for both public audiences and policy makers include: funders, patient advocates, and frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, vets, hospital workers, cleaners and farmers.
Action: Increased peer to peer education and awareness raising, especially across front line workers in human and animal health is critical to drive behaviour change and transmission of AMR. Patient advocates and the patient voice can support awareness raising across publics again to drive behaviour change, understanding and call for political action and leadership in AMR. Multisectoral action and coordination of strategies is needed to specifically engage political leaders, policy makers and financiers to urgently unlock funding for AMR. Delegates agreed to different communications strategies and platforms to increase the visibility of AMR and also to develop specific communications strategies to tackle different calls to action and audiences for AMR asks. These include patient specific outreach, developing narratives across the animal and environment sector to engage pet owners and farmers, increasing training for animal health professionals within professional human and animal health curricular and regionally focused communications workshops and a global communications hub to coordinate messaging across countries such as WOAH coordinated workshops on animal health.