International cooperation: health hecurity
International cooperation is intended to help protect the Swiss population from global health risks. The WHO promotes such collaborations among its member states, and offers the necessary technical support to strengthen national and global early warning, monitoring, prevention and response systems.
Global pandemic preparedness and response
Prevention, preparedness and response (PPR) are crucial to global health security. PPR helps strengthen Switzerland’s ability to swiftly identify health risks, minimise these and respond to them with speed and coordination, to limit their possible impact on the population and the provision of healthcare to the same.
With the above principles in mind, the handling of the COVID-19 crisis has been a key element in Switzerland’s health protection activities since the beginning of 2020 on both the national and the international level. International cooperation is crucial to the management of such crises at the global and the regional level, and thus also to protecting the health of the Swiss population. So bilateral contacts with other countries have been cultivated intensively, particularly with Switzerland’s immediate neighbours. An especially close collaboration was also maintained with the European Union throughout the COVID-19 crisis, thanks in particular to the ad-hoc access which was granted to various platforms. Switzerland’s participation in the relevant international institutions, particularly the World Health Organization (WHO), was also intensified throughout the period concerned.
In view of the extensive impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO’s member states have agreed to take various actions at a multilateral level to strengthen their pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. The priority now is to build consistently on the lessons that can be learnt from the COVID-19 crisis and its repercussions.
With the above aims in mind, Switzerland continues to play an active role in the international follow-up processes. These include in particular the adoption of the associated amendments to the WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR) , the changes to monitoring processes and procedures and the further development of the new WHO Pandemic Agreement . Switzerland is also involved in further pandemic preparation and response initiatives to protect the Swiss population from health crises and their repercussions. Preparing key medical supplies for market and ensuring their availability in adequate quantities can have a vital impact on the course of a pandemic. In view of this, Switzerland supports the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) , which is a leading player in researching and developing vaccines for use in pandemics and epidemics.
Antimicrobial resistance: an ever-growing global threat
Throughout the world, viruses and bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antimicrobial treatments. Switzerland is actively involved in international efforts to combat such antimicrobial resistance.
Antimicrobial resistance is defined by the WHO as the resistance of a microorganism to an antimicrobial medicine to which it was previously sensitive. This resistance stems from the ability of certain viruses and bacteria to withstand attack by antivirals or antibiotics. Such resistance develops when a microorganism mutates by acquiring a resistance gene.
Antimicrobial resistance can be observed worldwide. The problem is becoming increasingly serious, and now poses one of the greatest global health threats. In 2021, an estimated 1.14 million people died from infection with resistant pathogens, outnumbering deaths from malaria and HIV.
The trend is accelerating as a result of
- the increased and inappropriate use of antimicrobial medicinal products in humans and livestock
- the use of poor-quality medicinal products
- laboratory capacity shortages
- shortcomings in monitoring and control and
- inadequacies in the provisions on the use of antimicrobial medicinal products.
A global action plan and ongoing international efforts
In response to these developments, a Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance has been jointly developed by the WHO, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and civil society. The Plan has five strategic objectives:
- to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education and training;
- to strengthen the knowledge and evidence base through surveillance and research;
- to reduce the incidence of infection through effective sanitation, hygiene and infection prevention measures;
- to optimise the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health; and
- to increase investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools, vaccines and other interventions.
Switzerland supported the adoption of the Global Action Plan at the World Health Assembly of May 2015. The Swiss Strategy on Antibiotic Resistance (StAR) was then adopted as a national-level follow-up to this in November 2015. The StAR One Health Action Plan 2024-2027 was also adopted by Switzerland in June 2024, with the aim of globally promoting the implementation of the StAR strategy through a range of binding, innovative and sustainable actions and activities.
The global COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the impact that infectious diseases can have on human health and economic development. The efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance are a vital element in pandemic preparedness and response.
In November 2022 Switzerland participated in the Third Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance , which was held in Muscat (Oman). The Conference resulted in the adoption of the Muscat Ministerial Manifesto on Antimicrobial Resistance – a key step in preparation for the high-level conference on the topic which had been scheduled for the 2024 UN General Assembly in New York.
On the occasion of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2024, the UN member states adopted a Political Declaration which set the goal of reducing the numbers of deaths attributable to antimicrobial resistance by 10% between then and 2030. The Declaration further called for the creation of an independent panel of scientists to monitor this commitment by analysing the data available and formulating recommendations. And it was additionally resolved that the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance should be reviewed and updated by 2026.
In November 2024 the Fourth Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance was held in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). This event saw the adoption of the Jeddah Commitments, which laid out the implementation of the actions called for in the UN General Assembly’s Political Declaration of September 2024.
The next Global High-Level Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance will be held in Abuja (Nigeria) from 29 to 30 June 2026. This will be the first time such a conference has been hosted in Africa.
Link: Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance
Switzerland’s efforts
Switzerland supports the Geneva-based Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) to help promote the research into and the development of new antibiotics at the international level.
In 2018 Switzerland also joined the Global AMR R&D Hub, a global knowledge centre for antimicrobial resistance research and development which aims to enhance international collaboration and coordination in the field.
As a contributor to the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) , an initiative launched by the USA in 2014, Switzerland has further supported the AMR Action Package, which facilitates the exchange of best practices among its member states. In this context, Switzerland has also published a comparative study of selected national AMR strategies, with the aim of defining such best practices.
Link: Global Health and Peace Initiative (GHPI) (who.int) (EN)
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