Antimicrobial resistance National Action Plans and the role of microbial genomics with with Kate Baker and Tess Johnson

In this episode, we discuss antimicrobial resistance (AMR) priorities, as outlined in the UK National Action Plan (NAP) for AMR, and how microbial genomics can contribute to meeting them in the UK and beyond. Guests Kate Baker, a researcher at the Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK) and Tess Johnson, a bioethicist at the Ethox Centre of the University of Oxford (Oxford, UK) explain the context in which NAPs for AMR are develped in individual countries, and specifically in the UK, following the first release of WHO's AMR Global Action Plan (GAP) in 2015 and its subsequent update adopted at the 79th World Health Assembly in 2026. They then run us through the outcomes of a stakeholder workshop of the UK Transdisciplinary Antimicrobial Resistance Genomics Network (TARGetAMR) and detail how microbial genomics can be mapped onto all the key priorities of the UK AMR NAP, and highlight key areas that need further development and who the key players in addressing these gaps should be. Finally, they expand their discussion beyond the UK, highlighting how their findings, might or might not be transferrable to other countries. In their conversation, they also mention a TARGetAMR comic, which can be found here https://www.targetamr.org.uk/our-comic/ Click here to read the full article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanmic.2026.101372