The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean brought together experts from across the Region to strengthen the ability of countries to turn antimicrobial resistance (AMR) national action plans (NAPs) into practical, costed programmes of action. The training-of-trainers (ToT), held in Tunisia, aimed to establish a regional pool of experts to support countries move from AMR commitments to implementation.

The ToT curriculum, technical modules, facilitation approaches, practical exercises and supporting materials were developed and delivered by the Global Strategy Lab (GSL)’s AMR Policy Accelerator at York University, Canada, in collaboration with the Regional Office and WHO headquarters.

The training brought together a multidisciplinary group of experts from 9 countries across the Eastern Mediterranean Region, WHO staff and representatives from partner agencies including Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, ReAct and the UK Health Security Agency.

Participants developed practical skills to facilitate the prioritization of NAPs using the Smart Choice Process (SCP), and to estimate the resources required to implement them using the WHO AMR Costing and Budgeting Tool. The workshop also marked the launch of the SCP prioritization e-tool.