Antimicrobial resistance and water, sanitation, and hygiene

Data last updated 1 Aug 2023
Water quality standards are regulated
Water quality standards are not regulated
Data not collected

Source: Development of this subtopic was informed by Wolf et al., the World Health Organization’sDeveloping Drinking-Water Quality Regulations and Standards” _and _the UN-Water “Water Quality Policy Brief”. We consulted the national legislature websites for each country as well as the AMR-LEX database, powered by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO LEX). These sites were accessed between March and July 2023.

Water quality has wide ranging implications for human health, as the use and consumption of unsafe water often acts as a route of transmission for many pathogens, including those that express antimicrobial resistant traits. The FAO states that water quality can be safeguarded directly through specific water protection and quality legislation. Adopting water quality policies allow countries to enforce standards that ensure that water being used for consumption and recreation are safe for human use, and that surface and groundwater sources are suitable to support the ecosystem. Thus, knowledge of which countries have legally binding water quality standards is valuable for understanding the role of policy in the relationship between water, human health, and the development of antimicrobial resistant pathogens.

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