Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) committees have been formed in all districts in the state to equip healthcare workers and the public to deal with the health consequences caused by excessive use and misuse of antibiotics. Though the AMR committee came into existence at the state level in October 2018, antimicrobial activities have slowed down due to the spread of COVID-19 and district-level committees have now been formed to speed up their functioning.

Diseases in humans, animals and plants occur when bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, etc. attack living cells. Antimicrobial drugs, known as antibiotics, are the means used to expel these. Antimicrobial resistance is a condition in which pathogens acquire the ability to resist these drugs over time. It is estimated that 7,00,000 people die every year worldwide due to diseases that even antibiotics cannot contain. For the first time in India, AMR committees were set up in Kerala in the wake of the World Health Organization's warning that the number of such deaths could reach 1 crore by 2050. The action is taken in the backdrop that as AMR is a global health and development threat,  It requires urgent multisectoral action to save people.

The action plan is being implemented in coordination with the Departments of Health, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Agriculture and Environment in collaboration with the World Health Organization. A special rapid action plan has been formulated to make Kerala a fully antibiotic-literate state by 2023. The Rapid Action Plan has been prepared for the timely implementation of the Kerala Antimicrobial Resistance Strategic Action Plan (KARSAP). The project will be implemented through district-level anti-microbial resistance committees.

In order to get information from private hospitals, primary and secondary care institutions, the Kerala Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (KARS-NET) has been expanded to include 21 satellite centres based at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College. Laboratory facilities will be strengthened as part of the AMR surveillance in the state. The microbiology department of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College is functioning as the nodal centre for AMR surveillance in the state. World Antimicrobial Resistant Week is observed by WHO from November 18 to 24 with the aim of sensitizing people about the ill effects of self-treatment and creating awareness about antibiotics.