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Antimicrobial Resistance

Current Status
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top ten global public health threats. In response to the escalating threat posed by AMR, Taiwan CDC has implemented the National Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, established multi-disciplinary surveillance on multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) and antimicrobial use, implemented the Infection Prevention and Control and Antimicrobial Stewardship Center of Excellence (IPCAS CoE) and Quality Improvement (IPCASQI) Program, carried out coordinated infection control interventions, and promoted appropriate use of antimicrobials to mitigate the AMR threats. Furthermore, Taiwan CDC launches hand hygiene and antimicrobial awareness activities to engage the public in combating AMR.
Our goals are:
  1. To combat AMR using the One Health approach.
  2. To strengthen surveillance of antimicrobial resistant pathogens and to control the spread of MDROs.
  3. To strengthen surveillance of antimicrobial use and to optimize antimicrobial use.
  4. To promote excellence in antimicrobial use and combat AMR through the IPCAS CoE and IPCASQI Program.
  5. To encourage medical institutions and competent authorities to hold awareness activities among healthcare workers and the public about the AMR threats.

Accomplishment
  1. National Action Plan on AMR
    • To mitigate the threat of AMR to public health and strengthen collaboration among the agriculture, healthcare, and food sectors, the Executive Yuan approved the National One Health Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (2025-2029) in July 2024. The plan adopts the One Health approach to enhance AMR prevention and control through a series of comprehensive measures. The national action plan focuses on establishing and developing a national coordination mechanism for AMR while ensuring oversight of the production and distribution of antimicrobials for both human and animal use. At the same time, efforts will be made to raise AMR awareness among the public and healthcare professionals. Additionally, the plan aims to optimize infection prevention and control measures within healthcare facilities and implement an integrated surveillance and risk assessment mechanism. These initiatives underscore the government’s commitment to combating AMR and improving infection control in healthcare institutions nationwide.
  2. Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistant Pathogens
    • To strengthen the AMR surveillance, Taiwan CDC has introduced the Antimicrobial Resistance (AR) module to the THAS system to collect isolate-based antimicrobial susceptibility data of clinical isolates since March 2017. Hospitals are encouraged to report data electronically through an interchange platform or WebAPI. In 2024, 369 hospitals participated in this module. The AR module incorporated tailored visualization reports and the results of AMR data reported were analyzed and published in the Taiwan Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Annual Report.
  3. Surveillance of Antimicrobial Use
    • In order to monitor national use of antimicrobial in medical institutions, the aggregated data of antimicrobial use from the National Health Insurance database of prescription and treatment has been introduced in Antimicrobial Use module in THAS system since 2018. Hospitals and public health authorities could access feedback reports from the system and the Taiwan Antimicrobial Use Surveillance Annual Reports are produced.To improve the timeliness of monitoring, an automated data exchange mechanism has been established in 2024.
  4. IPCAS CoE and IPCASQI Program
    • Through the IPCAS CoE Program, Taiwan CDC has enrolled medical centers to lead their alliance hospitals and clinics in implementing the IPCAS CoE and IPCASQI Program. The aims of the initiative are to reinforce excellence in antimicrobial use and combating AMR. In 2024, two medical centers were accredited as the IPCAS CoE and 9 alliance hospitals successfully passed the IPCASQI assessment.
  5. Awareness-raising activities
    • To raise public and healthcare workers awareness of hand hygiene and AMR, Taiwan CDC continues to engage in the WHO’s World Hand Hygiene Day (May 5) and the World AMR Awareness Week (November). Taiwan CDC invited delegates from relevant government agencies, health professional associations, leaders and healthcare workers of medical institutions to attend the launch ceremonies, demonstrating their commitments to improve hand hygiene and combat AMR. Relevant information has been disseminated to healthcare facilities and workers, encouraging them to display their engagements in practicing hand hygiene and addressing AMR.

Future Prospects
  1. Continue to implement national action plans through multi-sector collaboration to enhance AMR control.
  2. Assess national progress of national action plan on AMR in human health, animal health, food safety, agriculture and environment sectors.
  3. Continue to encourage hospitals to implement antimicrobial stewardship programs and participate in AMR surveillance.
  4. Continue to raise awareness and understanding of AMR risk and response among healthcare workers and the public.
  5. Enhance international collaboration and information sharing across different stakeholders.
UpdateTime 2019/7/30