"In order to contain bacterial resistance,
let us restore the health of the ecosystems"
University of Cuenca , October 2008
The ancestral sources and the academic sources
ReAct Latin America (ReAct is an acronym of Action on ABR: action against bacterial resistance to antibiotics) is a network of academic institutions, civil society organisations, public groups and individuals that was established in the beginning of 2007, in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Cuenca, three years after the foundation of Global ReAct at the University of Uppsala, in Sweden.
Established to confront a sanitary problem that, although recognized as one of the most serious threats to humanity, has remained relegated in the national and international agendas of public health. We are referring to bacterial resistance to antibiotics, a phenomenon that is turning these drugs into harmless substances.
To be hosted in an Andean country, under the protection of a faculty of medical sciences known for its contributions to social medicine, obviously sets its marks on ReAct Latin America’s identity and direction. That is, ReAct Latin America’s perspective on bacterial resistance is nourished from two sources: firstly, theCosmo vision of the original peoples of America, and secondly, the paradigm of the social determinants of health formulated by academics and investigators of critical epidemiology.
From the vision of the original peoples, "the main cause of bacterial resistance is the systematic deterioration of the balance of life", explains Donato Camey, who is a Mayan doctor engaged in the network. To live and to respect life of all beings are two interdependent and indispensable dimensions for recovering lost balance and health.
On the basis of the paradigm of the social determinants, ReAct Latin America is aiming at making the approach to bacterial resistance less medicine oriented, to release the issue from the redoubt of antibiotic use, and to show its relationships with malnutrition, the agreements of intellectual property, the lack of citizen participation and the neo-liberal model. The search for lasting solutions demands approaches and visions that are aiming at the primary causes of the problem.
The social participation
This construction process, accomplished thanks to contributions from an endless number of people and groups, culminated in June this year, when ReAct Latin America, the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Cuenca and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), summoned America and other continents to in an International Workshop and Seminar treating antibiotic resistance, infectious diseases, solidarity and the Ecossystems.
Under the motto Restore the health of the ecosystems, to contain bacterial resistance, the event managed to reunite representatives from 22 different countries in Cuenca, pertaining to civil society groups, universities, community networks, non governmental organisations, public groups, communitarian universities, networks, cooperation agencies and public organisations. From different regions of the host country, almost a thousand people; students, health professionals, social leaders and artists gathered at the encounter.
After several days of intense work, mixed with cultural and spiritual activities, the above agreed upon that "bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a threat to public health […] generated when using a valuable public good [the antibiotics] in an irresponsible way", as it reads in the final Declaration.
In spite of that "the global answer has been too weak", it continues with "there has been insufficient attention to the prevention of bacterial infections, towards the necessity to stop antibiotic abuse, the necessity to develop new therapeutic options from a public health perspective, the necessity to promote healthy environments."
In order to fulfill "the ethical obligation to revert the process", the Declaration raises thirteen coordinated actions: to evaluate the impact(s) of antibiotic use and to widely educate all involved in the handling and administration of this type of drugs. It immediately urges governments to assure universal access to health services and medicine, to improve infection control and to reinforce the regulatory capacity of national states and international organisms in the chain of production and antibiotic consumption.
After requesting a systematization of the knowledge of the Latin American people on bacteria and ecosystems, the Declaration finalizes with a call to "implement a holistic approach and new perspectives to face the problem […] guided by the search for equity and harmony between humans and the ecosystem". With this profound call, the circle initiated in the beginning of 2007 with the creation of ReAct Latin America, is closed.
Furthermore, the challenges are mainly there to set the framework for the great diversity of activities and perspectives of the network around the common objective; “that current and future generations should have access to effective prevention and treatment of bacterial infections as part of their right to health”
Klevér Calle
