Unpacking AMR

Across the New Conceptions miniseries, we've made the case that AMR must be addressed not only as a biomedical challenge but also as a social challenge. We've explored a series of conceptions that can reshape the global action plan revisions: antimicrobial resistance as socio-ecological dynamics, as infrastructure woven through daily life, and as a challenge shaped by urbanization, social inequities, and global systems.

In this episode of Unpacking AMR, Daniela Corno speaks with Dr. Laura Valtere and Dr. Daniel Carelli to unpack AMR as a collective action problem, a global challenge that cuts across human, animal, plant, and environmental health, and pulls in players from industry, academia, healthcare, and civil society. It's a vast patchwork of actors, each with their own competing interests and limited incentives to cooperate across borders. Together they explore how resistance pays no attention to national borders, why national action plans often fall short of their promises, and what it might take to build the trust, capacity, and authority that real cooperation demands. 

This is the fourth and final episode in our "New Conceptions to Manage AMR" miniseries, which has explored how social science can reframe the way we think about antimicrobial resistance and strengthen the next global action plan. It’s the last of the series, but not of the podcast! Stay tuned for more episodes of Unpacking AMR.

Experts understand the urgency of the AMR crisis. There are countless technical reports, research papers and policy briefs on the issue, and we see the impact that drug-resistant infections are having worldwide. But how do we build awareness about this “silent pandemic” if we cannot effectively communicate the scale of the problem and the consequences of delaying action? Without clear and compelling communication, we risk missing a critical window in which effective, coordinated action across sectors can change the trajectory of AMR.

Join our host Demetria Tsoutouras and guest Alison Humphrey on Unpacking AMR, as we explore how art and storytelling can complement evidence-informed policymaking. Through initiatives like the ART x AMR project, artists, storytellers and curators around the globe are transforming lived experiences and real life ramifications of AMR into interactive stories that engage both the public and policymakers.

When we think about antimicrobials, many of us picture a biomedical story. A story that unfolds in hospitals and clinics, physicians prescribing antibiotics, pharmacists dispensing them, or patients taking them to recover from an infection. But antimicrobials go far beyond hospitals and pharmacies.

In this episode of Unpacking AMR, Daniela Corno speaks with Dr. Clare Chandler and Dr. Susan Nayiga to unpack how AMR is woven into everyday infrastructures, shifting our focus from microbes to the systems that make us dependent on antimicrobials.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a leading global public health threat that calls for coordinated action across multiple sectors. In 2024, country representatives at the UN General Assembly committed to creating the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action against AMR (IPEA). This initiative is aimed to bring together multidisciplinary experts to provide countries with evidence-based guidance on how to effectively address AMR. The IPEA is set to be established by the end of 2025.  

How will the IPEA provide solutions that are representative of AMR in low, middle, and high resource settings? What are some potential challenges that the IPEA may face in its development stage? What are the short and long-term priorities of the IPEA? 

We discuss all of this and more in Episode 7 of Unpacking AMR, hosted by GSL Director of Communications Demetria Tsoutouras, who she speaks with Dr. Iruka Okeke, a Professor of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, and Anthony McDonnell, a Policy Fellow in the Center for Global Development’s Global Health Team. The development of the IPEA is a step forward in addressing the complex and wide spanning concern of AMR.

What does the way we build and live in cities have to do with the way bacteria resist antibiotics?

In this #UnpackingAMR episode, we explore a new perspective that helps us understand how urbanization, social inequities, infrastructure, and global systems contribute to the rise of AMR.

Join our host, Daniela Corno, and guests Dr. Raphael Aguiar and Dr. Kayla Strong as they dive into this concept.

New conceptions and perspectives are needed to challenge traditional antimicrobial resistance (AMR) narratives and create interdisciplinary solutions for policy impact.

Today’s conversation features Dr. Isaac Weldon (Cebil - University of Copenhagen) and Dr. Ilaria Natali (Toulouse School of Economics (TSE), exploring the socio-ecological dynamics of AMR. This perspective shifts the narrative from a war that we must win to understanding how humans and microbes co-exist.

This year, at the UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a major political declaration on AMR was adopted. But what happens next? It's time to turn commitments into action.

Intro Music: Elevator Pitch by Shane Ivers - www.silvermansound.com

In this episode of Unpacking AMR we explore the principles behind the SAFE AMR Governance Partnership. Join us in a conversation with Julianne Piper, Carly Ching, Isaac Weldon, and Jeremy Grimshaw while they highlight how a collaborative, One Health approach can help safeguard our global pool of antimicrobials for future generations.

Join us for a conversation with Dr. Susan Rogers Van Katwyk and Dr. Mathieu Poirier as we dive deeper into what antimicrobial resistance really means, how AMR expands beyond human health to animals and infrastructure, and some ways that researchers are currently working with a global, interdisciplinary approach to address this issue.

Intro Music: Elevator Pitch by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Welcome to Unpacking AMR: It’s more than bugs and drugs!

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, and other microbes stop responding to antimicrobial medicines. Unpacking AMR delves into the challenges of drug-resistant infections. Join the conversation on creating sustainable, fair, and evidence-informed policies. Remember, AMR is more than drugs and bugs!

Music credit: Elevator Pitch by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com