Antimicrobial Resistance
Shared ecosystems facilitate the transmission of many microbes between animals, humans, and their shared environment while antimicrobial resistance (AMR) presents a significant global public health concern. Drug-resistant microbes can spread through direct contact or contaminated food, underscoring the need for coordinated efforts across human and animal sectors to control their dissemination. Low- and middle-income countries are disproportionately affected by antibiotic resistance due to limited healthcare access, inadequate sanitation infrastructure, insufficient healthcare professional training, and minimal public health education.
Addressing these challenges requires collaboration across multiple disciplines including public health, animal health, plant health, and environmental sciences, as no single sector can adequately address or eliminate the issue alone. The Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership currently focuses on gathering and disseminating interdisciplinary evidence on how vaccines can mitigate antimicrobial resistance in specific country contexts.
OHC’s initiatives encompass various aspects of the AMR challenge: closing knowledge gaps, elucidating the issue's complexity, advocating for vaccination and infection prevention to reduce infections and decrease antibiotic demand, and promoting responsible antibiotic use through stewardship and evidence-based treatment guidelines.
