The Netherlands

National AMR research program
National action plans
MB representatives

The Netherlands is represented in JPIAMR by ZonMw, which is the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development.

ZonMw is a national organisation that promotes quality and innovation in the field of health research and health care, initiating and fostering new developments. ZonMw also actively promotes knowledge transfer and implementation, ensuring knowledge is exchanged between all relevant stakeholders (health researchers, health professionals, patients/ consumers and the general public). This in turn facilitates the structured implementation of newly developed knowledge and ensures that emerging health care issues are on the research agenda.

The majority of ZonMw’s commissions come from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). The Ministry’s main concern is to contribute to public health, including prevention and health care services. NWO is a non-governmental organisation concerned with fundamental and strategic research. As the national research council, it plays a key role in the development of science, technology and culture in the Netherlands. With regard to AMR ZonMw also cooperates with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and with WOTRO, Science for Global Development.

National AMR research program and activities

AMR Research programs

  • ZonMw AMR; 2009-2018
  • ZonMw ABR; 2016-2023
  • ZonMw JPI-EC-AMR
  • JPIAMR ACTION
  • ZonMw AMR3; 2023-2026

ZonMw has a competitive funding scheme. Other initiatives that are supporting and/or facilitating AMR research:

Other AMR initiatives (not elaborate): AMR global, MARAN + NethMap, SWAB, ABR zorgnetwerken, i-4-1-Health, 1Health4Food, ALTANT, AMR Insights, CARES, CeSAM, Eenheid van taal in ABR, EurHealth-1Health, health-i-care, FIGON, KNCV TB, RVO

National ZonMw AMR research calls

  • AMR 1st round; 2010
  • AMR 2nd round; 2011
  • AMR 3rd round; 2014
  • ABR 1st round; 2016
  • ABR 2nd round; 2017
  • ABR 3rd round; 2019
  • AMR3 1st round; 2023

Activities on AMR actions at national level

  • Dutch Global Health Strategy 2023-2030. In the coming years, the Netherlands is scaling up its efforts in the field of global health. The Dutch Global Health Strategy 2023-2030: “Working together for health worldwide” aims to contribute in a coordinated and targeted way to improving public health around the world, and thus also in the Netherlands.
  • FAIRification. Development of FAIR data models and machine readable metadata schemes (‘metadata for machines’ or M4M). To improve interoperability of data and metadata, ZonMw stimulates researchers to choose standards (etc) that are commonly used within their research domain. In addition, ZonMw started in some programmes to organise activities for research communities to agree on such preferred relevant standards and technologies. This has been done for AMR and Infectious Diseases, and for COVID-19.
  • Antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance remain stable. Report 2022 on AMR.
  • AMR stakeholder conference: ‘Antibiotic resistance: From research to practice and policy’. 26 September 2023
  • Ministerial conference: ‘Second Ministerial Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance’ (19/20-6-2019, Noordwijk, the Netherlands). Organized by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
  • Evaluation of the national programme antibiotic resistance 2019 of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport
  • Invitational Conference: ‘ABR policy for the coming years’ (18-11-2019, Gouda, the Netherlands)
  • 2nd EU-JAMRAI: The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and the ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality are actively participating in the preparations for the second EU-JAMRAI.
  • European Partnership on Animal Health & Welfare (PAHW) The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and the ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality are actively participating in this partnership.
  • First call within national programme AMR3. This ZonMw call opened on 28 September 2023. The call focusses on the application of existing implementation knowledge in different stages of research, and to improve implementation knowledge with regard to AMR.
  • Pandemic preparedness activities AMR is included in the plans for PanPrep.
  • Letters to parliament regarding antibiotic resistance (in Dutch)
  • NethMap Maran report 2022: Consumption of antimicrobial agents and antimicrobial resistance among medically important bacteria in the Netherlands in 2021 / MARAN 2022. Monitoring of Antimicrobial Resistance and Antibiotic Usage in Animals in the Netherlands in 2021.
  • AMR Benchmark 2021: an updated Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark compares how a cross-section of the pharmaceutical industry is responding to the threat from drug-resistant infections.
    The Antimicrobial Resistance Benchmark research programme is made possible with financial support from UK AID and the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.
  • Roadmap on correct use of antibiotics in primary care (08-04-2020, in Dutch)

National action plans

  • A new national AMR action plan will be developed in 2023. Due to upcoming elections, the plan will be presented late 2023 begin 2024.
  • A new ZonMw research programme started in 2023, which includes national funding and international collaborations, such as the new partnership under the HE framework.

Management Board representative

  • Seven Merik, ZonMw
  • Linda van Gaalen, ZonMw