Renewed Sida funding boosts ReAct’s global efforts!

2025-05-26

ReAct is very happy and proud to enter into a new agreement with its longstanding partner Sida. Following an important year of mobilizing global action on the growing crisis of antibiotic resistance, ReAct looks forward to expand its work for equitable and sustainable access to effective antibiotics through this renewed two-year grant from Swedish Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

Interim Head of Unit & Coordinator Strategy for Health & SRHR, Pia Engstrand comments the renewed collaboration:

“We are proud of our longstanding partnership with ReAct and delighted that we are able to continue working together. Antibiotic resistance is a priority in Sweden’s thematic strategy for health and SRHR 2025–2029, and ReAct’s activities make important contributions in the field of antibiotic resistance.  Further, we highly value ReAct’s bottom-up approach, as it emphasizes direct collaboration with local communities, civil society, and grassroots organizations. Instead of depending solely on top-down policies, ReAct ensures that national action plans are tailored to be practical, inclusive, and effective in addressing challenges.”

Raphael Chanda, Acting Director, ReAct Africa says:

”The political commitments made at the UN High Level Meeting on AMR last September have opened the door for accelerating the global response to antibiotic resistance. ReAct is proud of the role it played in mobilising civil society, communities and academia while working with governments to making the Political Declaration as ambitious as possible. It isimportant that we collectively turn these commitments into action and don’t lose the political momentum in countries!”

Increased funding makes new areas of work possible

Thanks to an increased level of funding from Sida in 2025 ReAct will be able to take on new important areas of work and develop throughout network. One example is a new collaboration with Ukraine to support implementation of its national action plan against AMR. This work will be carried out in collaboration with the Swedish public health agency and other actors both in Sweden and Ukraine.

Anna Sjöblom, Director ReAct Europe:

“It is exciting to start up work in new areas as part of the partnership with Sida. One example is the collaboration with Ukraine. We see alarming and  increasing evidence of how armed conflict accelerates the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. Having worked 20 years in humanitarian assistance before joining ReAct, I am very happy that we can engage in this field.”

ReAct: a catalyst for 20 years

In 2025, ReAct turns 20 years. When the network was created back in 2005 it was with the intent to be a catalyst for global action. This remains an important part of the network’s mission. Through our 2025-2026 Work Plan, we will work to ensure key commitments of the declaration are fully realized, and continue to advocate for gaps in the response to be filled.

The work across the global network in Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Europe also includes grass-root level engagement in communities, in the health care sector, supporting governments and agencies in the implementation of National action plans and developing innovative approaches to antibiotic stewardship and awareness raising.

Pia Engstand continues:

“We look forward to a continued strong collaboration in the coming years, where ReAct continues to make a difference, not least as a key player at the regional level, bringing stakeholders together in the fight against antibiotic resistance and ensuring aligned efforts to prevent and manage antibiotic resistance.”

Gratitude for Sweden’s continued leadership on antibiotic resistance

We are grateful that the Swedish government through its development cooperation continues to prioritize support for increasing global action on antibiotic resistance. The Sweden has been a pioneer among donors in understanding the strong links between global access to effective antibiotics, and the achievement of sustainable development and through that has shown the way for others.