Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is not only a biological issue, but a complex social problem. As a consequence, changing the way patients, healthcare professionals and policymakers think about antibiotics will require input from both the natural and social sciences. In March 2021, the Uppsala Health Summit on “Managing antimicrobial resistance through behaviour change” tackled this very problem. We spoke to three key participants – Otto Cars, Eldar Shafir and Vanessa Carter – to learn more.

Tune in to find out:

• How the COVID-19 pandemic might affect AMR globally
• How the context around us influences the decisions we make
• How patients’ stories can help communicate the urgency of AMR

Want to know more?

The Uppsala Health Summit is a recurring international policy arena for dialogue on healthcare challenges and how we can overcome them.

Otto Cars is founder and now senior advisor to ReACT (Action on Antibiotic Resistance). He set the scene at Uppsala Health Summit 2021 with a lecture on the current status of AMR globally. In a recent interview, he described how to make the most of the COVID-19 momentum to spur much-needed action in the AMR sphere.

Eldar Shafir is professor of behavioural science and public policy at Princeton University, with a special interest in the effect of poverty on decision-making. In his keynote lecture at the summit, he commented on the AMR problem from a behavioural perspective. He points us to a 2016 research paper on the effect of behavioural interventions on inappropriate antibiotic prescribing.

Vanessa Carter is a South Africa-based patient advocate for AMR and e-patient scholar at Stanford University Medicine X. She suggests reading Tom Ferguson’s white paper on e-patients and their contribution to healthcare.

This episode was produced in collaboration with The AMR Studio podcast at Uppsala Antibiotic Center. Tune into their show for more stories on antimicrobial resistance.

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