The 8th International Congress of Socio-Environmental Health, Rosario, Argentina

2025-08-28

The 8th International Congress of Socio-Environmental Health in Rosario, Argentina, brought together over 50 academics, doctors, activists, and community leaders to address a critical question: how should science respond to our civilizational crisis? What emerged was not just data and diagnoses, but a revolutionary metaphor that challenges how we understand health, resistance, and our relationship with the microscopic world.

Beyond warfare: Dancing with our microbial partners

At the congress’s heart was the transformative concept of “Dancing with Bacteria” – a metaphor developed over 20 years through collaborative work between artists, communities, scientists, and communicators worldwide. This approach fundamentally challenges the “war on germs” narrative that has dominated modern medicine.

Rather than viewing microorganisms as enemies to eliminate,

“Dancing with bacteria is re-establishing our relationship with the invisible, with the other, with all forms of life,”

organizers explained. Christian Trigoso, a Bolivian microbiologist who calls himself “the man who loves all his bacteria,” embodied this shift.

The reality of antimicrobial resistance

The congress confronted sobering statistics about antibiotic resistance. Trigoso revealed that in 2021, 1.14 million deaths were directly attributable to antibiotic resistance. If trends continue, by 2050, 19 people will die every minute from infections we can no longer cure – over 10 million deaths annually.
However, epidemiologist Silvana Figar reframed this crisis: “Antimicrobial resistance from my point of view is an adaptation, it is not a problem.” She argued that resistance represents bacteria’s natural response to “stressogens” – hostile environments created by industrial farming and antibiotic overuse. With 70% of antibiotics used in intensive animal husbandry, “bacteria travel from pigs to rural laborers, from meat to plates, from the community to the hospital.”

Learning bacterial wisdom

The congress revealed that bacteria offer crucial lessons for human survival. Figar identified key bacterial strategies we must adopt: “flexibility, resilience, resistance, diversity, adaptation, horizontal communication.” She proposed a revolutionary shift from “antimicrobial prescriptions to microbial prescriptions,” recognizing that bacteria may hold solutions to climate catastrophe through carbon sequestration and bioremediation.
“Resistance is the power we have to transform a system that is out of balance,” Figar explained, advocating for learning to “cooperate to guarantee our survival as a species” just as bacteria do through networks and relationships.

Art as scientific translation

The congress demonstrated art’s power to make complex science accessible and transformative. Brazilian oral narrator and psychologist Maíra Domundo participated in the panel discussion, proposing a revolutionary approach to addressing antibiotic resistance through storytelling. She shared the tale of Eleuteria, a young bacteria learning to adapt, conveying that “antibiotics are not magic candies, but powerful tools that we must use responsibly.” For Maíra, “stories are a very powerful tool to confront, understand and overcome the challenge of resistance.”
The integration reached its peak when participants literally danced with bacteria, guided by teacher Marianela Carrapizo through songs from the musical ‘Dancing with Bacteria.’ This embodied experience, complemented by sharing kefir (live microorganisms) to nurture internal ecosystems, demonstrated that caring for our microbial partners is both personal and political.

One Health: Interconnected life

Central to the congress was the One Health framework, recognizing that “the health of soil, water, food, animals, microbes and people are intimately connected. What harms one, affects all.” This perspective reveals that agrochemical contamination, antibiotic residues, and antimicrobial resistance are symptoms of a system that has “stopped respecting the vital fabric that connects us.”
Science with Conscience

The congress concluded with a call for “Ciencia Digna” – science committed to life and dignity. Organizer Damián Verzeñassi emphasized:

“There is no possibility of thinking about science committed to life if it is not with the people being part of that construction.”

As part of the conference activities, ReAct Latin America organized two important workshops: one focused on participatory methodologies for community health, and another on “making history by telling our stories” – demonstrating practical applications of community empowerment tools to understand antimicrobial resistance through the One Health approach.

The final statement challenged science as a market tool, advocating instead for science as “an ethical act, deeply political, relational and at the service of life.” Participants invoked the principle that “there cannot be healthy bodies in sick territories,” connecting individual health to environmental and social justice.