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International call to stop the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance
In early 2021, a call will open within the Joint Programme Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) collaboration, focusing on preventing and reducing the development and transmission of antimicrobial resistance. The Swedish Research Council and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) are participating as Swedish funding bodies.
It has been called ‘the silent pandemic’, but during this week, designated “World Antibiotic Awareness Week” (WAAW), more noise than usual is being made about what the WHO describes as one of the ten largest global threats to health: antimicrobial resistance, or AMR.
Sweden’s use of antibiotics is at a relatively low level, but as we live in a globalised world, infectious substances can act as ‘stow-aways’ and pass between humans, animals and the environment. This means that measures to slow down the development of antibiotic resistance must be taken and coordinated within and between different sectors and geographic areas. This perspective, which takes into account the strong connections that exist between public health, animal health and the environment, is known as “One Health”.
In early 2021, a call will open within the Joint Programme Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) collaboration, which adopts exactly this multisectoral perspective. The focus will be on preventing and reducing the development and transmission of antimicrobial resistance. The call covers both basic research and more applied research.
In total, 21 countries will take part in the call, which has an overall budget of 24.9 million EUR. The Swedish Research Council and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) are participating from Sweden.
“The call is a good example of when different Swedish funding bodies collaborate on joint societal challenges, such as AMR, which creates opportunities for researchers in Sweden to collaborate internationally on research of relevance to meeting global threats to health,” says Patriq Fagerstedt, who heads the national research programme on antibiotic resistance at the Swedish Research Council.
Markus Moll, Research Adviser at Sida
Sida funds researchers from countries in Africa
The purpose of the support from Sida is to give researchers from countries in Africa the opportunity to carry out research projects in locally relevant research environments.
“We know that antibiotic resistance thrives in environments with limited access to clean water, hygiene and weak health systems, for example. These are environments that often exist where resources are limited. Research and innovation in these types of environments are therefore of incredibly great importance to prevent or slow down the local development and spread of antibiotic resistance,” says Markus Moll, Research Adviser at Sida.
“What works in one place doesn’t necessarily have the same effect in another place. For this reason, it is important to have locally relevant research that takes into account local conditions and local knowledge.”
Markus Moll hopes that the support will lead to strengthened research of high quality and relevance in the work against development and spread of antibiotic resistance on the African continent.
“Antibiotic resistance is a major challenge, which requires long-term research efforts and collaboration. We hope that the calls coordinated by JPIAMR will contribute to strengthen the local, regional and global knowledge base that is needed to turn around the worrying development of increased antibiotic resistance.”
When the call opens, information on the application process will be available here, on Vetenskapsrådet.se.
JPIAMR
The JPIAMR organisation today has 28 member countries. Sweden is one of them, and the Swedish Research Council hosts JPIAMR’s international secretariat.
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