Intra-abdominal infections (IAI) are an important cause of morbidity and ă are frequently associated with poor prognosis, particularly in high-risk ă patients. ă The cornerstones in the management of complicated IAIs are timely ă effective source control with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Empiric ă antimicrobial therapy is important in the management of intra-abdominal ă infections and must be broad enough to cover all likely organisms ă because inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy is associated with ă poor patient outcomes and the development of bacterial resistance. ă The overuse of antimicrobials is widely accepted as a major driver of ă some emerging infections (such as C. difficile), the selection of ă resistant pathogens in individual patients, and for the continued ă development of antimicrobial resistance globally. The growing emergence ă of multi-drug resistant organisms and the limited development of new ă agents available to counteract them have caused an impending crisis with ă alarming implications, especially with regards to Gram-negative ă bacteria. ă An international task force from 79 different countries has joined this ă project by sharing a document on the rational use of antimicrobials for ă patients with IAIs. The project has been termed AGORA (Antimicrobials: A ă Global Alliance for Optimizing their Rational Use in Intra-Abdominal ă Infections). The authors hope that AGORA, involving many of the world's ă leading experts, can actively raise awareness in health workers and can ă improve prescribing behavior in treating IAIs.