From 5 – 6 October 2022, Prof. Kathy Liddell participated in the INAMRSS/CeBIL Copenhagen AMR Workshop: Solutions to AMR from the Social Sciences.
This Workshop sought to bring together the international scholarly community – in particular those working in the social sciences – to establish a coherent evidence base to guide national and international efforts to stem AMR and its impacts. The programme addressed topics including pandemic preparedness, the skewed impact of resistance for women and vulnerable populations, and enhancing governance of antimicrobial stewardship.
These are pressing issues. Drug-resistant bacteria kill 1.27m people annually, more than HIV and malaria combined. Deaths are disproportionately concentrated in low- and middle-income countries, especially in children under 5 years old. Sustainable Development Goals are threatened by this ongoing toll. It is evident that determined and well-coordinated international actions are needed to tackle this global health threat from a One Health perspective. While antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is often seen as a technical issue of drug development, solutions to this problem will require serious engagement with those working in the social sciences.
The event was hosted by CeBIL (University of Copenhagen), INAMRSS and the Global Strategy Lab (York University), in collaboration with the Social Innovation on Drug Resistance Program (Boston University) & the AMR Centre (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine).
Prof. Liddell attended as a representative of LML, a founding member of the INAMRSS network. INAMRSS is an open consortium of international academic centres focused on social science research and policy on antimicrobial resistance. Led by Professor Timo Minssen (University of Copenhagen), INAMRSS functions as a network of networks, fostering international research and collaboration by tying together research leaders from diverse regional, national and international AMR research centres.