In focus
The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified Antimicrobial Resistance as a top ten priority global health threat for 2019. Three years after the Political Declaration on Antimicrobial Resistance was adopted by all Member States in 2016, we are now at a critical point in time to shape the world’s response to the issue. For 2019, political action must be stepped up. We urge countries to take up the work on antimicrobial resistance as a top priority, and would like to see the following happen…
ReAct is an independent network dedicated to the problem of antibiotic resistance. ReAct is a global catalyst, advocating and stimulating for global engagement on antibiotic resistance through a broad range of collaborations.
News
ReAct is currently looking to recruit new Global Health Expert to join our team in Uppsala, Sweden, to further strengthen our global network and science-team. Applications are accepted until 21st of February.
News
How should needed work on antimicrobial resistance be funded? New meeting report from workshop with experts on antimicrobial resistance and global health. The report includes strong evidence from a number of low- and -middle income countries about the extreme difficulty in identifying funds for priority activities and human resources. There is currently no ‘go-to-place’ for funding the implementation of National Action Plans on AMR and this is a serious concern.The report is prepared by ReAct and the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. Read full report: A planetary threat but a financing orphan.
Science
Since November 2016, Pakistan has been plagued by an outbreak of extremely resistant typhoid fever. What is so special with this outbreak, and are there broader lessons to be learned from it?
ReAct Interview
Thailand has very impressive health indicators and is among the few countries in the South-East Asia region that boasts of a Universal Health Care (UHC) system, covering 98% of the population. Despite these achievements, antimicrobial resistance has been a growing problem in Thailand. Dr Niyada Kiatying-Angsulee, Thailand’s foremost civil society activist on antimicrobial resistance, speaks to ReAct about the growing public awareness issues related to antimicrobial resistance in Thailand.
News
After the launch of the Kerala Antimicrobial Resistance Strategic Action Plan (KARSAP), ReAct Asia Pacific was asked to arrange a workshop for pharmacologists. One of the main purposes of this program was to initiate and strengthen the role of pharmacologists within the antibiotic stewardship team in tertiary care teaching hospitals.
News
Reducing the misuse and overuse of antibiotics in food production is critical to any global attempts to prevent the emergence and spread of resistant bacteria. As consumers around the globe become more aware of the dangers of antimicrobial resistance meat producers and food retailers everywhere are rushing to label their products as “antibiotic-free” or as “raised without antibiotics”. The trouble is though, these labels do not fully explain in accurate terms what exactly they mean.
Opinion
Investing to deliver on the objectives of the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance is urgently needed. The return of economic and health investments in managing antimicrobial resistance will be large and are needed across several sectors to minimize the negative impact of antimicrobial resistance.
ReAct Interview
Peter Yeboah, Chairman and Executive Director, is an optimist. He thinks recent experiences with epidemic outbreaks in Africa demonstrate that global health security lies in strengthening sub-Saharan African health systems.
Science
Appropriate, rational or prudent use of antibiotics are widely used terms when discussing the causes of and remedies for antibiotic resistance. Much like the term One Health, appropriateness of antibiotic use is intuitively appealing – its meaning seems obvious and most people would say that one should not use antibiotics inappropriately. But still we see a lot of misuse of antibiotics all over the world, so either there are many people who simply do not care about appropriate use of antibiotics, or perhaps the meaning is not so obvious as it first seems.
News
A steady rise in per capita income, growing urban population and falling retail prices of chicken meat have made poultry production one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector in India today. As a result, India is now the world’s fifth largest egg producer and the eighteenth largest producer of broilers. All this rapid expansion has however come at a high cost. The indiscriminate use of antibiotics, for growth promotion in particular in other words to ‘fatten chicken’, is fueling antibiotic resistance in the country.
Science
For years, ReAct has talked about the discovery void: the fact that no truly new antibiotics have been discovered and reached the market since the 1980’s. Unfortunately, this still holds true for non-TB antibiotics, although there may be some hope to be found in the most recent pipeline analyses.
In focus
As we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the discovery of penicillin, it is appropriate to take a look at the current state of modern medicine since the discovery penicillin and the other antibiotics that followed. Here are seven ways that penicillin changed modern medicine.
Science
One Health is often used as a buzzword – a word that evokes reactions and feels intuitively positive. Unfortunately, it is often poorly defined and understood. One attempt to define it is as a connectivity. The health of humans is connected to the health of animals and plants and vice versa. We all share this space, whether we call it a biome, ecosystem or Mother Earth.
Opinion
The situation for many children in sub-Saharan Africa is dire: a variety of infectious diseases, malnutrition and inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure all take their toll in these most vulnerable. According to UNICEF, the estimated mortality rate in children under 5 years in sub-Saharan Africa in 2016 was 78.4 deaths per 1000 live births. We all share a responsibility to reduce these mortality rates, but how?
Science
According to a recent publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, global antibiotic consumption in humans has increased dramatically from 2000 to 2015. The study rings a bell on the complex challenges posed by underuse, misuse and overuse of antibiotics.
ReAct Story
“Caring about antibiotic resistance is similar to reducing plastic waste or saving water”, says Dr. Windhi Kresnawati. She is a pediatrician and has worked in a remote area in Papua Island in Indonesia for the past 4 years. During this time she managed to engage various stakeholders to support and participate in a series of activities to raise their awareness on antibiotic resistance.
News
As we recently commemorated the World Health Day, it is interesting to remind us all of the rise and approaching fall of one of the most powerful discoveries in medical history – antibiotics. What makes them so special, and why is bacterial resistance such a major threat to human health?
Opinion
Bacterial resistance to antibiotics gives rise to new ethical problems. Much of medical ethics prior to antibiotics has been focused on whether a certain procedure is justified, for example with respect to safety, efficacy and costs. But as antibiotic resistance has a global impact that persists over time, new questions arise that cannot be solved only by more or better science. In contrast with science, which is descriptive, ethics is normative. Ethics deals with what we ought to do or ought not to do.
News
It is a well-known fact that antibiotic resistant infections have a major influence on the health of people globally. Antibiotic resistance increases both mortality and morbidity due to treatment failures and lack of effective therapy. But antibiotic resistance has even more far-reaching consequences on different levels that often tend to be overlooked.
The ReAct Toolbox is a user-friendly web-based resource that provides inspiration and guidance to take action and develop national action plans on antibiotic resistance. It is built on what has been done in the past in a variety of settings, and is aligned with ongoing and current initiatives from across the globe.
ReAct is a global network of antibiotic resistance experts with nodes in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America.
In the last 70 years the use of antibiotics has been crucial in improving countless lives and drastically reducing deaths caused by bacterial infections. The increasing development of antibiotic resistance is posing a serious threat to human health and development, the environment and for animal health. Learn more about ReAct’s work on antibiotic resistance here.
Involved in developing your country's National Action Plan? Here you find support for developing a comprehensive plan.
Doctors, pharmacists, veterinarians and other health care professionals - you have the power to take action! Learn more about how to get started.
Engagement from civil society organizations and communities is needed to tackle antibiotic resistance. Learn more about how to get involved.