In the Western Pacific Region, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is predicted to cause up to 5.2 million deaths and have an economic cost of nearly US$ 150 billion from 2020 to 2030¹. AMR is driven by many complex factors, but overuse and misuse of antimicrobial medicines are among the leading causes. Concerted efforts are needed to promote responsible use of antimicrobials. Measuring and analyzing the consumption of antimicrobial medicines provides critical information that will support the development of policies and strategies to strengthen antimicrobial stewardship.

Antimicrobial consumption (AMC) surveillance is a priority area of theFramework for Accelerating Action to Fight Antimicrobial Resistance in the Western Pacific Region. To address this need, the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific launched the Western Pacific Regional Antimicrobial Consumption Surveillance System (WPRACSS) in 2020. WPRACSS is a system designed to support Member States to capture data on antimicrobial consumption (AMC) at national, hospital and community pharmacy levels.

The WPRACSS web portal is now ready for use by Member States in the Western Pacific Region. This web portal enables countries to upload and analyze their AMC surveillance data. Additionally, the WPRACSS mobile application, designed for community pharmacies to record antimicrobial dispensing data, is available for download on both iOS and Android platforms.

To date, 22 Member States from the Western Pacific Region have already joined WPRACSS.

The WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific will publish periodic reports based on the data submitted to WPRACSS. The first report from WPRACSS presents an overview of annual antimicrobial consumption patterns at the national level in seven countries and areas across the Western Pacific Region.

For more information about WPRACSS, please contact  WPRACSS@who.int.  

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