Managing Antimicrobial Resistance through Behaviour Change: March 15 - 18 2021
The Summit will support the work that takes place on global and national levels, with a special focus on improving knowledge and changing behaviours around antibiotic resistance.
Sharing knowledge from research and innovations, the objective is to develop concrete proposals for improved practice and policies, and form alliances to pursue new ideas and implement joint solutions.
Background
The rampant overuse of antibiotics, antifungal and antiviral medicines in humans, livestock and agriculture has created a global health crisis that has been compared to a silent tsunami, with enormous impact on human health. A recent report from the WHO revealed data from a large numbers of countries pointing to disturbing rates of resistance to medicines used to treat common bacterial infections. This means we are facing a reality where routine hospital procedures, cancer treatments and childbirth are far riskier than they used to be.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased use of antibiotics, but it may not be until we surface from this global health emergency that we fully understand the potential effects on AMR. Here is a summary from our partner organization ReAct on what we know so far.
But there are positive developments: The last five years have seen increased commitments within the global community to tackle drug resistance. In 2015, the World Health Assembly endorsed a global action plan and member states were encouraged to develop their own national plans. The following year, antimicrobial resistance was also discussed in the UN General Assembly, and as a result, the UN Interagency Coordination Group (IACG) on Antimicrobial Resistance was formed.
In 2019, this group handed over its concluding report ‘No Time to Wait: Securing the Future from Drug-Resistant Infections’, to the UN Secretary-General, including a set of recommendations to guide future work at country-level.
Actions to reduce the spread and impact of Covid-19 have had a considerable impact on public understanding of infection prevention and the value of vaccines, which are essential parts in preventing AMR. It has also created a momentum for improved collaboration in research. How can we develop and sustain these behaviours - in individuals, organizations and systems - over time?
Focus at Uppsala Health Summit 2021
At Uppsala Health Summit Managing Antimicrobial Resistance through Behaviour change we will identify existing scalable, evidence-based solutions and discuss obstacles for implementation of policies and programmes. What can we learn from other fields and do we need to reframe the messaging to different target-groups for better impact?
Uppsala Health Summit 2021 stands on the shoulders of Uppsala Health Summit 2015, which addressed implementation of the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance across six focus-areas, as well as our summit 2017 which explored One Health solutions to tackle infectious disease threats.This time we will expand the community of discussants to include a greater focus on the social and behavioural sciences.
About the Summit
Uppsala Health Summit is a yearly meeting filled with results-oriented dialogues in workshops, inspiring keynote presentations and debate in plenary. Delegates from different sectors and countries bring key competencies to the table. This creates many opportunities to engage in interesting conversations and establish useful new relations.
This year the summit will be digital.
The goal of the Summit is to bring different perspectives together, to address already identified challenges and dilemmas for better health globally.
One month prior to the Summit, all registered delegates will receive a Pre-Conference Report This document summarises the state-of-the-art research on the topics that the workshops will elaborate on.