The National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR) 2.0 is a strategic framework and a five-year national strategy (2025–2029) launched by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to combat the rising threat of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in India. The problem it addresses is that life-saving medicines like antibiotics are losing their power as microbes evolve to evade them, a phenomenon accelerated by the overuse and misuse of antimicrobials. This resistance makes infections harder and more expensive to treat, posing a significant risk to critical healthcare interventions like surgery and cancer treatment.
The plan's origin lies in the first NAP-AMR, which was launched in 2017 and was preceded by the establishment of a National Task Force on AMR Containment in 2010. The NAP-AMR 2.0 replaces and expands the earlier plan, incorporating lessons learned and addressing the gap of limited implementation at the State level.
It works through a comprehensive 'One Health' approach, which recognizes that AMR spreads across human health, animal health, agriculture, and the environment. Key provisions include six strategic objectives, such as strengthening surveillance and laboratory capacity, promoting antimicrobial stewardship (rational use of antibiotics), and enhancing infection prevention and control (IPC). A major change from the first plan is the enhanced accountability mechanism: over 20 key stakeholder ministries and departments, including Agriculture, Environment, and Jal Shakti, are now mandated to develop their own specific action plans with defined timelines and budgets. The plan also introduces enhanced environmental surveillance, including monitoring wastewater for antibiotic residues from hospitals and pharmaceutical industries. It connects to the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), which coordinates the plan, and aligns with global strategies like the World Health Organization's World AMR Awareness Week.