World Health Day is celebrated globally on 7 April to mark the founding of the World Health Organization and to raise awareness every year of a key global health issue. The theme for 2011 was "Antimicrobial resistance: no action today, no cure tomorrow".

Antimicrobial resistance is not a new problem but one that is becoming more dangerous; urgent and consolidated efforts are needed to avoid regressing to the pre-antibiotic era.

For World Health Day 2011, WHO introduced a six-point policy package to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance.