ReAct reflection on ESCMID Global conference 2025

2025-04-24

During this year’s Congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases – also known as the ESCMID Global conference - held in Vienna between April 11-15, ReAct was represented by Anna Sjöblom, Directo ReAct Europe.

Here Anna and share some reflections from the five-day conference attended by thousands of participants immersing themselves into the science of infectious diseases.

Anna, this was the first time you attended – what is the main impression of the conference you left with?

– There is so much exciting and impressive science being presented in many different forms and formats, from big key notes with hundreds of people in the audience, to fire side discussions, poster exhibitions, round tables and numerous side events. It was a bit overwhelming at times, when it is only possible to see and digest a small fraction of it all while also networking and meeting old and new colleagues and friends.

– The issue of the extraordinary and challenging times globally was very present, not least due to the huge cuts and disengagement from US in the area or global health which clearly has major consequences for research and for programs focused on infectious diseases in LMICs. The undermining effect we currently also witness on academic freedom reminded me not to take anything for granted, to defend integrity and principles of unbiased scientific research and stand up for open and good discussions within global health and science communities.

From a broader policy perspective what du take away from there?

– One of the major challenges within the field of antibiotic resistance is the major persisting gap between science and policy. ESCMID provides a good opportunity to ensure that all the scientific work that is being generated is also used to inform and strengthen the evidence base for global policy discussions – for example in the current process to establish the independent evidence panel for AMR or policy discussions on how to best and most efficiently achieve the targets defined in the political declaration by 2030. While ambition to have ESCMID take part in bridging that gap, it would be good to strengthen these efforts even more going forward.

– I think the aspiration to become a more global than European conference is important given the global nature of the problems and disproportionate burden of disease also for antibiotic resistance. There is still a bit to go on that front in my mind for example when it comes to strengthening representation from the global south.

Poster presentation

ReAct – in true spirit of bridging science to policy – exhibited a poster showcasing ReAct’s work with communities in Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America that laid the foundation for the global campaign “From People to Leaders: Act on AMR NOW!”, which mobilized roughly 200 organizations, social movements and communities in support worldwide ahead of the Un High-Level Meeting on AMR in New York last year.

ReAct in various sessions and panels

Anna joined a session on ”Global AMR policy after UNGA – what do we do now?” and emphasized the need to re-focus the issue away from ‘resistance development’ and ‘stewardship’, to a focus on ‘ensuring future sustainable access to effective antibiotics for all’ to make the goal of global action more clear, balanced and actionable for decision makers, especially in today’s funding crisis.

ReAct also joined a roundtable discussion on antibiotic stewardship in low- and middle-income countries where the discussion focused on access to training, tools, and guidelines. The round table provided a good overview of how different stakeholders contribute to this critical work.