StAR Strategy

Together with the international community, Switzerland must prevent the development of new resistant organisms and limit their transmission and spread. The Swiss Antibiotic Resistance Strategy (StAR), which was adopted by the Federal Council on 18 November 2015, determines objectives and measures. The strategy's implementation began in early 2016.

Antibiotics are indispensable in human and veterinary medicine for the treatment of bacterial diseases. However, the excessive and sometimes inappropriate use of antibiotics in particular has caused ever more bacteria to become resistant to antibiotics. What is particularly troubling is the resistance against modern classes of antibiotics and the increase in multi-resistant organisms.

Antibiotic resistance is a global problem and threatens public health and the achievements of modern medicine on a global scale. The international community is giving high priority to combating antibiotic resistance, and since 2001 has already been reacting to the threat with the World Health Organization's Global Strategy for Containment of Antimicrobial Resistance. This was followed in 2015 by an interdisciplinary action plan which was co-authored with the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

With the Swiss Antibiotic Resistance Strategy (StAR) adopted by the Federal Council on 18 November 2015 as part of its health policy priorities set out in "Health 2020", Switzerland is also taking a cross-sector approach to tackling the problem of antibiotic resistance. All affected stakeholders were consulted in developing and implementing the strategy: the responsible federal offices, the cantons, and partners in the areas of human health, animal health, agriculture and the environment.

StAR defines overarching objectives for human medicine, veterinary medicine, agriculture and the environment, and outlines measures in eight strategic fields of activity: monitoring, prevention, appropriate use of antibiotics, resistance control, research and development, cooperation, information and education, and general conditions. The strategy's implementation began in early 2016. Due to the great number of measures, their implementation is now being approached on an incremental basis. The responsibility for detailed planning lies with the federal offices hitherto involved and the directly affected stakeholders. The latter have a defining say in the implementation, just as they did in the design of the strategy.