The World Health Organization (WHO) has prepared a draft Global action plan on antimicrobial resistance that will be discussed at this year's World Health Assembly. However, more is required if the world is to grapple effectively with this huge and complex problem. Global collective action is required in three areas: 1. access, 2. conservation, and 3. innovation. The problem of antimicrobial resistance requires that all three areas be tackled simultaneously. Without conservation and innovation, universal access will simply drive resistance and deplete existing stocks of effective antimicrobials. Given these global coordination issues, there is a clear role for a binding international legal framework to encompass the issues of access, conservation and innovation.