Turning Surveillance Into Strategy: Reimagining Australia’s AMR Story in 2026

Release of the Sixth Australian Report on Antimicrobial Use and Resistance (AURA Report)

Melissa Waine | BSc/BCom (Hons 1), UNSW and Garvan Institute of Medical Research | Member, Australasian Medical Writers Association | 18 years of experience in medical, scientific and health communication | melissawaine.com

Australia cannot manage what it does not measure.

Australia boasts enviable, longstanding national surveillance programs that sit under the Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Australia (AURA) project umbrella and produce high-quality data (such as NAUSP and NAPS). Data of this calibre is essential to guide investment, standards, and practice change.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is not a distant threat. It is a significant and growing public health challenge affecting patient safety, hospital capacity, aged care quality and the long-term sustainability of our health system.

The release of the Sixth Australian report on antimicrobial use and resistance in human health is more than another surveillance report – it is a strategic barometer of how well we are preserving the effectiveness of antimicrobials in this country.

Produced by the Australian Centre for Disease Control, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of antimicrobial prescribing and resistance trends across hospital and community settings using the latest available data, from 2022 to 2024.

The AURA project is about accountability. Surveillance is not a passive exercise — it is a strategic instrument. It enables clinicians, health services, policymakers and the broader community to understand where we are making progress and where urgent attention is needed.

The AURA report shows:

• * Where prescribing is improving — and where it is not

• * Which resistance trends demand urgent attention

• * Why antifungal resistance is an escalating concern

• * What meaningful progress looks like

• * What actions healthcare professionals and the community can take to prevent AMR.

Delivering the Report

I had the privilege of contributing to this important national publication through a multifaceted role that spanned strategy, content and delivery.

Reimagining the Narrative

Technical surveillance reports can risk being data-dense but inaccessible, especially when they are hundreds of pages long and text-dense.

My role involved reimagining the look and feel of the report (shorter and sharper), and how the findings were structured and communicated to ensure that complex data was translated into clear, compelling and actionable insights. The objective was simple: make the data impossible to ignore.

Writing and Editing

I wrote and edited the report with data and input from subject matter experts (AURA program partners and stakeholders), many of whom I had closely collaborated with on the previous AURA 2023 report, to ensure:

• * Technical accuracy

• * Consistency of terminology

• * Coherence across chapters

• * Accessibility for a wide audience

Balancing scientific and technical information with clarity was central to the task. The language needed to maintain precision while remaining readable for everyone, from leaders and policymakers to clinicians to everyday Australians.

Project Management and Delivery

National reports of this scale demand disciplined coordination. My role also encompassed project management — managing stakeholder input, robust quality assurance processes and ensuring that each project milestone was delivered on time.

Why the AURA Report Matters

If we are serious about safeguarding modern medicine, surveillance must translate into action.

The question for all of us is simple: what will we do differently because of this data?

You can read the Sixth Australian report on antimicrobial use and resistance in human health (AURA report) here.

If you are interested in collaborating on strategic health publications, surveillance reporting or complex multi-stakeholder projects, I welcome the conversation.