BRIDGE-ABR: A ReAct-led collaboration on goal conflicts, antibiotic resistance and sustainability

2026-01-29

Antibiotic resistance is a growing, cross-sectoral challenge that risks derailing progress across the Sustainable Development Goals. To help bridge policy silos and advance more coherent responses, ReAct Europe is leading a new project within Uppsala University’s newly established interdisciplinary research institute, UUniCORN. The BRIDGE-ABR project brings together researchers and practitioners to identify policy goal conflicts and generate integrated solutions that strengthen both antibiotic resistance mitigation and sustainable development outcomes.

Antibiotic resistance (ABR) is one of the most intricate global challenges of our time, largely driven by misuse of antibiotics across a broad spectrum of interconnected sectors, including health, agriculture, food, water, sanitation, and the environment.

ReAct has previously reported on antibiotic resistance as a global development problem, and shown how continued increase of antibiotic resistance can severely undermine the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those concerning social and economic development, poverty alleviation, and equity.

Despite the close interaction between sustainable development and policies, the frameworks for attaining the sustainable development goals and resistance reduction have largely been developed and implemented independently in many countries. This isolation often leads to a lack of coordination and potential misalignment between policy goals, which in turn can lead to sub-optimal outcomes.

Three examples of “goal conflicts”

There are numerous conflicting objectives between and within interventions directly focused on antibiotic resistance within the scope of the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as between ABR mitigation goals and Sustainable Development Goals with other primary focus. They may seek to address the same issue but can be in conflict with each other in the implementation and or outcome.

Luong Nguyen Thanh, postdoc researcher in the project and author of a doctoral thesis on the topic says:

“We are facing a situation where policies designed to improve lives can unintentionally worsen antibiotic resistance, and vice versa. BRIDGE-ABR is about making these hidden trade-offs visible and building bridges between sectors, so that efforts to reduce resistance also advance equity, resilience, and sustainable development.”

Pathways to coherent, sustainable policy making

Recognizing these complexities, the BRIDGE-ABR platform has been established to bring these tensions into sharper focus and forge pathways toward more coherent, sustainable policy making.

Led by ReAct Europe and in collaboration with researchers Luong Nguyen Than and Peter Søgaard Jørgensen at Uppsala University’s Centre for Health and Sustainability and the Stockholm Resilience Centre, BRIDGE-ABR aims to systematically explore and map conflicting objectives within ABR mitigation and the SDGs. It also aims to strengthen the research-to-policy interface and support the development of integrative solutions, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Kerstin Åkerfeldt, Policy Expert and Project Coordinator, at ReAct, says:

“Antibiotic resistance doesn’t exist in isolation – it sits at the intersection of health, food systems, the environment, and economic development.

With BRIDGE-ABR, we want to move beyond siloed approaches and help decision-makers understand where well-intended policies collide, and how we can design solutions that protect both public health and sustainable development.”

Catalyze dialogue and strategies

By building a trans-disciplinary collaborative network that spans across different sectors, the initiative seeks not only to illuminate where policy misalignments occur, but also to catalyze evidence-informed dialogue and actionable strategies that reconcile resistance reduction with broader development priorities.

In doing so, BRIDGE-ABR aims to contribute to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of how antibiotic resistance intersects with equity, sustainability and global health governance.

This kind of cross-cutting insight will become increasingly needed to navigate an era of structural reform and financial constraints in global development in the context of poly crisis.