2022

News

Awareness walk in Lusaka, Zambia

On 22nd November ReAct Africa joined Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) and partners in the streets of Lusaka for a 4.3 km Awareness walk to commemorate the World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2022.

Videos

Couch Conversations on AMR – 7 short videos with stakeholders in the African region

Look at seven short videos with stakeholders from the African region and beyond discussing different areas within antimicrobial resistance and work that needs to be done.

Community engagement

ReAct Asia Pacific: Competitions, webinars, social media campaigns and new Indonesian declaration on AMR

Interactions with media, students and health professionals formed the highlight of various events held to mark the World Antibiotic Awareness Week in the Asia Pacific region. Learn more in article.

News

Innovate4Health: 16 finalists from 12 countries!

Sixteen finalist teams have been selected for the Innovate4health global design sprint, representing a new generation of innovators that will address the challenges of emerging infectious diseases.

News

Otto Cars awarded Research!Sweden’s Honorary Award

Professor Otto Cars, founder of ReAct, has been awarded Research!Sweden’s honorary award for his dedicated work in slowing down the development of antibiotic resistance. This includes his work to enable the development of new antibiotics and equal access to effective treatments for bacterial infections globally. The award will be presented on the Research!Sweden Day on 28 November.

Community engagement

ReAct Asia Pacific: Antibiotic Smart Communities as a way forward

Can there be such a thing as an antibiotic smart community? If so, how could processes towards this be initiated and systematically approached? These questions, and an urging feeling that to be able to implement the National Action Plans on Antimicrobial Resistance there is a need for a bottom-up engagement approach. Communities need to engage for action on the global health challenge we all are facing – drug-resistant bacteria. With this mindset, ReAct Asia Pacific initiated the project A

News

Otto Cars has dedicated his life to the fight against antibiotic resistance

The silent pandemic – this is what the challenge of increasing antibiotic resistance in our society is called at times. Treatments are made more difficult in healthcare, lives are lost. Professor Otto Cars has devoted his entire professional life as a doctor and researcher by alerting the world to the risks of this silent pandemic. To commemorate World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, Uppsala University releases a 16 minute long film portraying Otto Cars and his life-long engagement.

News

Join ReAct Latin America Meeting: Empowered Communities!

In 2022, the Latin American and Caribbean Meeting of Empowered Communities to Tackle Antimicrobial Resistance will kick off November 3, on One Health Day. This Day, which attracts global attention, is the perfect occasion to approach antibiotic resistance as a planetary health problem that affects human beings, animals and the environment.

New

Webinar ReAct Asia Pacific! Moving towards an Antibiotic Smart Community – the use of a novel indicator framework

10 of November ReAct Asia Pacific is hosting a webinar focusing on community engagement and a novel indicator framework that the region developed via the project Antibiotic Smart Communities. During the webinar ReAct Asia Pacific will share learnings for the project, you will listen to AMR-experts from across the globe and the 1,5 hour long webinar will end with a panel discussion. There will also be opportunity to ask questions.

News

ReAct activities for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2022

ReAct will arrange and participate in a various set of activities during World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2022. There will be a mix of hybrid events, online events, on-location events and online campaigns. ReAct will engage with students, engage for children, hold or participate in webinars focusing on antibiotic resistance and for example community engagement, cancer, and National Action Plans. ReAct will also arrange various types of online engagement: community workshops, media workshops, civil society meetings, engage in the WHO Go-blue for AMR campaign and much more.

Interview

Sweden: Pernilla’s 8-day old daughter died from sepsis – caused by resistant bacteria Klebsiella

When Pernilla Rönnholm from Gothenburg, Sweden, gave birth to her twins Kirsty and Freya, only one of the girls survived. Kirsty died 8 days old from multi-drug resistant bacteria. Listen to the family’s story in an interview with the mother, Pernilla.

Science

The impact of antibiotic resistance on cancer treatment, especially in low-and middle-income countries, and the way forward

The growing antibiotic resistance burden is a global public health issue that needs to be addressed urgently, particularly in low- and middle-income countries where health infrastructure is lacking or under-resourced and cancer treatment is already difficult to access, expensive, and requires high out-of-pocket expenditure. This article considers the challenges faced by the cancer community, how antibiotics are used in cancer treatments and the impact of antibiotic resistance on low- and middle-income countries , and offers four key areas that need to be addressed by the cancer community in order to make progress against the threat of antibiotic resistance.

Policy and science

5 challenges that governments need to address in resolving the stagnation in antibiotic development

We are now well into a third decade of failure and standstill in developing new antibiotics. Meanwhile resistance to all of our existing antibiotics continues to develop across the world and antibiotic resistance was the cause of 1.2 million deaths in 2019, more than for HIV/AIDS and malaria.

The traditional market-based financing model for research and development of new antibiotics continues to fail. The reason for the lack of innovation is often presented as a matter of insufficient profitability for the pharmaceutical industry. However, there are significant scientific challenges that remain unresolved, which contributed to large pharmaceutical companies abandoning the field over the past decades.

Science

The monkeypox outbreak: Need for antibiotic stewardship?

On 23 July this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the monkeypox outbreak spreading globally is a”public health emergency of international concern” (PHEIC), the agency’s highest alarm.

Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis (it originated in animals and jumped to infect human) that causes flu-like symptoms and a blistery rash that lasts two to four weeks. A vast majority of those infected recover without severe illness, although a small percentage develop sepsis or other severe secondary infections.

Implications of monkeypox for antibiotics consumption: what can we expect?

News

ReAct Africa launches website!

Now ReAct Africa launches its nodal website. It will help you find information about antibiotic resistance work in the African region, where the ReActnode brings together experts and key stakeholders to form technical working groups on the issue.

Learn more how ReAct Africa increases collaboration with other relevant networks and organizations and advocates for concerted action on antibiotic resistance.

News

Launch of a new approach to antimicrobial stewardship in Zambia

At the yearly ReAct Africa Conference in Zambia in July, the Director General of the Zambia National Public Health Institute (ZNPHI) Professor Roma Chilengi, launched the Zambia Strategic Program for Antimicrobial Stewardship (ZASPARS). The program is an adaptation of the Swedish strategic programme against antibiotic resistance (STRAMA) which has led to a significant reduction of the inappropriate use of antibiotics in Sweden since its introduction in 1995.

News

Key takeaways from the ReAct Africa and South Centre Conference

The ReAct Africa and South Centre Annual conference was held as a hybrid event from 25-27 July in Lusaka Zambia under the theme: Africa’s response to Antimicrobial Resistance: Accelerating One Health National Action Plans implementation for the next 5 years. Participants from 30 countries joined the sessions and discussions. Find a few key takeaways from the 3-day conference.

Position paper

New ReAct Europe and EPHA position paper on EU incentives for new antibiotics development

In a joint publication, ReAct Europe and the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) express concerns as only a limited number of options for introducing incentives have been considered during the European Commission targeted consultations. The position paper includes 10 reasons why a TEE is not efficient for advancing antibiotic development.

News

Time to register for the annual ReAct Africa and South Centre conference!

This year ReAct Africa and South Centre will be hosting the annual conference as a hybrid event under the theme: “Africa’s response to Antimicrobial Resistance: Accelerating One Health National Action Plans implementation for the next 5 years.” The event will take place Monday 25th July to Wednesday 27th July.

Science

"Need to address the paradox of hospitals spreading disease" says new WHO report

The concept of infection prevention and control – that involves implementing a variety of protocols to prevent avoidable infections in hospital settings – has become an essential part of all modern healthcare. In the context of antimicrobial resistance also, infection prevention and control plays a central role by helping lower burden of health care-associated infections, thereby reducing the need to use antibiotics.

Interview

Student Tehseen Contractor: learning about antibiotic resistance at university encouraged me to join this training program

Beginning this year, Tehseen Contractor and four Global Health students focused a project on antibiotic resistance and artificial intelligence. ReAct got curious and wanted to hear a young Medical student’s thoughts on antibiotic resistance in general, and artificial intelligence and antibiotic resistance in particular. Tehseen is from India and is studying Medicine and Surgery in the UK.

Takeaways and recording

5 takeaways from ReAct AMR Stockholm+50 associated event

On June 1st 2022, ReAct in collaboration with The Nordic Council of Ministers and Stockholm Environmental Institute hosted the hybrid event “The silent antimicrobial resistance pandemic urges a concerted global response – but what needs to be done?”. Here you find 5 takeaways from the day and a few next steps.

Webinar recorded

New opportunities for global action on AMR?

21 June ReAct and South Centre hosted the webinar: The silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance: New opportunities for global action?

Will the new international instrument offer opportunities for a stronger response to antimicrobial resistance?
What are we learning from national experiences from developing countries?

Click to listen to webinar.

Real life

Dr. Hari Paraton: Drug resistance bacteria threatens lives of mothers and newborn

In general, administering stitches to close tears on mothers who have newly delivered a child are a safe and common procedure. However, the handling of post-delivery sutures by health workers without sufficient understanding about the use of antibiotics and the risk of infection can be a different story. What are supposed to be happy moments for parents with their new born baby, after going through the delivery process, might sadly end in grief.

This was experienced by Dr Hari Paraton, an obstetrician and gynecologist from Surabaya, Indonesia, who handled a patient, (we will call her “Paramita”) with abnormal post-delivery stitches. Instead of drying out, the wound on the stitches just got worse and wider.

News

ReAct Latin America: call to governments on the use of antimicrobials in intensive animal husbandry

With the aim of reducing the use of antimicrobials in intensive animal husbandry and its impacts on human and ecosystem health, the participants of the Latin American Webinar “Intensive Animal Husbandry, Animal Welfare and Antibiotic Use” signed a Call.

The Call is urging governments and members of the teams and commissions responsible for the National Action Plans on AMR, the design and implementation of policies, to limit the use of antibiotics in agri-food systems.

Event

Join ReAct Stockholm+50 associated event! Global AMR response – What needs to be done?

Welcome to join the Stockholm+50 associated event hosted by ReAct, The Nordic Council of Ministers and Stockholm Environmental Institute: “The silent antimicrobial resistance pandemic urges a concerted global response – but what needs to be done?”

When?
1 June 14:00 – 15:30 CEST

Read more and register! (now includes link to recorded event)

Policy

Allocation of adequate resources and community engagement key to NAP implementation

In 2015 recognizing the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance the World Health Organization endorsed a Global Action Plan on AMR.

The five objectives that the Global Action Plan aimed for were:

• improving awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance,
• strengthening surveillance and research,
• reducing the incidence of infection,
• optimizing the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health and
• ensuring sustainable investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools, vaccines, and other interventions.

How far along are we?

Policy

Public hearings: elements to be included in a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness & response

On 12-13 April, the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted a first round of public hearings regarding a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response.

This aimed at informing the deliberations of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement, or other international instruments on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

The guiding question of  “What substantive elements do you think should be included in a new international instrument on pandemic preparedness and response?” was explored through spoken and written input from the public.

Guest writer

The silence is killing us – time to listen to the facts

Escherichia coli. Klebsiella pneumoniae. Staphylococcus aureus. Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Or we could put it this way: bacteria that cause everything from urinary tract infections to life-threatening wound infections. Staphylococci that can lead to life-threatening sepsis. And pneumococcus, which is the most common cause of pneumonia.

We learn from Médecins Sans Frontières experiences across the globe and we listen to experts Jacob Goldberg, Médecins Sans Frontières and ReAct’s founder Otto Cars.

The situation is acute – but not hopeless.

Text: Åsa Nyquist Brandt, Médecins Sans Frontières

Policy

Policy brief on WHO GAP AMR: 8 pillars of action to address global solutions to AMR

A recently published Antibiotic Resistance Coalition Policy briefing finds WHO Global Action Plan on AMR at crossroads and calls for attention to Comprehensive Review. This briefing is released at a pivotal moment for the World Health Organization to take stock of its progress on the Global Action Plan on AMR. The briefing identifies eight pillars of action that should be taken to comprehensively address the global solutions to antimicrobial resistance.

News

India: State Action Plans on AMR in focus at stakeholder colloquium

ReAct Asia Pacific in association with World Animal Protection, India, and World Health OrganizationIndia, organized the first edition of an annual “Colloquium on State Action Plans on Antimicrobial Resistance 2022” in New Delhi14 March.

COVID-19 has been a setback in the formulation and implementation of sub-national action plans on antimicrobial resistance. The meeting aimed to facilitate inter-state discussions on strategies to revitalize State Action Plans on AMR and had participation from 16 regions in India.

ReAct Interview

Access to clean water - a fairly inexpensive way to avoid infections

Andreas Berglöf has worked with advocacy for more than 20 years, from HIV, to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) – and since a year back for WaterAid Sweden. Right now he is at the World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal. During the conference, WaterAid participates to urge leaders around the world to prioritize water, sanitation and hygiene issues, to strengthen health systems, climate adaptation and economic recovery after COVID-19.⁠ Work that will have positive effects on addressing antibiotic resistance.

WaterAid Sweden are one of the actors engaging in antibiotic resistance. In this article Andreas speaks about water, sanitation and hygiene, actions needed at global and country level, the coming pandemic treaty and lessons learned from HIV work.

Policy

Systemwide response to antibiotic resistance requires effective and sustainable global governance

Causing 1.27 million deaths per year, antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest and most urgent cross-border public health threats of our time. However, the global community was late to the table to pick up on the systems failure of antibiotic resistance. Initiatives and collaborations have been initiated since 2015, but stronger globally coordinated governance is needed to drive systemwide response. There is still a long way to go. In this article, you get an overview of the global governance considerations for antibiotic resistance.

News

Anna Sjöblom new Director ReAct Europe

Anna Sjöblom is the new Director for ReAct Europe. She comes with long experience of working in low resource settings for Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) and within the Swedish health care system. In addition to this she has been a Medical Humanitarian Advisor for MSF for almost 10 years and she was a member of the MSF Sweden management-team.

Science

Artificial intelligence – the future of antibiotic resistance prevention?

Artificial intelligence, a machine-based system that can, for a given set of human-defined objectives, make predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing real or virtual environments. Could this be an asset in addressing antibiotic resistance? In recent years, artificial intelligence has proven to be a potential tool for managing antibiotic resistance. More specifically, it has been employed as aid for clinicians in antibiotic therapy optimization, for example by monitoring trends in resistance and improving use of antibiotics. Could artificial intelligence be the future of antibiotic resistance prevention?

News

Antibiotic resistance claims more than 1,2 million lives a year, says new large study

Today the most comprehensive data to date on the global burden of antibiotic resistance has been published in the Lancet. An estimated 1.27 million deaths were a direct result of antibiotic resistant bacterial infections in 2019. This points to the fact that world leaders must urgently speed up actions on multiple levels to mitigate the increasing consequences of this crisis.