Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2026
ISSN
0042-9686
Publisher
World Health Organization
Language
en-US
Abstract
Social science research on antimicrobial resistance has gained traction in the last decade, employing a diverse set of theoretical perspectives to better understand topics ranging from antimicrobial stewardship to political coordination.4 As the action plan commitments will be updated in 2026, an opportunity exists to employ a broader social science scope to accelerate national antimicrobial resistance interventions.
In January 2025, the Global strategy lab convened leading antimicrobial resistance social scientists from a variety of disciplines to determine which new ways of understanding antimicrobial resistance could catalyse and incentivize action. Three conceptions stood out as important to revisions of the action plan:2 antimicrobial resistance as socio-ecological dynamics;3 antimicrobials as essential infrastructure;4 and antimicrobial resistance as collective action problems.5
In this article, we propose that these three social sciences conceptions can be applied to global action plan revisions to improve how problems are defined and their solutions implemented. These three concepts can also engage important new partners to ensure antimicrobial resistance policies are sufficiently equitable, sustainable and multisectoral.
Recommended Citation
Mathieu Poirier, Jaskeerat Singh, Isaac Weldon, Clare I. Chandler, Daniela Corno, Laura Valtere, Pedro H. D Batista, Daniel Carelli, Geneviève Boily-Larouche, Sonia Lewycka, Fiona Emdin, Kathleen Liddell, Timo Minssen, Ilaria Natali, Susan Nayiga, Iruka N. Okeke, Emmanuel Olamijuwon, Kevin Outterson, Julianne Piper, Kayla Strong, Jarnail Singh Thakur, Kednapa Thavorn, Maarten Van Der Heijden, A. M. Viens, Mary Wiktorowicz & Steven J. Hoffman,
Social science contributions to the global action plan on antimicrobial resistance
,
Bulletin of the World Health Organization
(2026).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/4186
