Launch of the European Partnership on One Health Antimicrobial Resistance (EUP OHAMR)

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most urgent global health threats, projected to cause more than 39 million deaths over the next 25 years, if left unadressed1. In response to this, the European Union (Horizon Europe) has launched the European Partnership on One Health Antimicrobial Resistance (EUP OHAMR), a ten-year initiative coordinated by the Swedish Research Council. With an expected budget of €253 million and more than 50 partner organisations from across Europe and beyond involved, the Partnership will deliver coordinated, science backed solutions to address AMR. 

Building on the work of the Joint Programming Initiative on AMR (JPIAMR), EUP OHAMR brings together governments, research funders, public health institutes, civil society organisations and international partners in a truly One Health integrated effort. Its activities are structured around four interconnected work programmes including: 

• Research and Innovation Funding Programme: which will launch transnational calls to support the development of new medicines, diagnostics and tools to treat AMR infections.  
• Capacity Strengthening Programme: which will promote collaboration, training and career development.  
• Data Exploitation Programme: which will make project results accessible, interoperable and re-usable, maximising their impact for science and policy development. 
• Impact Programme: which will focus on translating scientific evidence into practice, ensuring that solutions deliver needed change in health systems. 

The role of ICARS 

As one of the key international partners, ICARS plays a vital role within EUP OHAMR. ICARS brings unique expertise in implementation research and the global perspective, ensuring that scientific evidence is translated into practical, scalable solutions that work in low- and middle-income countries where the burden of AMR is most heavy. ICARS will ensure that research agendas and joint calls are informed by diverse perspectives and are aligned with global priorities especially from low resource settings. 

ICARS will specifically lead on two tasks within the work programmes including:  

1. Capacity strengthening ensuring that research priorities are informed by context needs beyond Europe  

1. Scientific evidence translation to inform the work of policy makers and practitioners. 

On the 22 and 23 of September, ICARS joined the official launch of the Consortium in Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Francesca Chiara, Science Partnership Advisor, connected with the other task collaborators to kick start the planning of future activities to be launched in the coming years.  ICARS’s Director of Operations, Helle Krarup, participated in the panel discussion: Delivering impact through global collaboration, where she shared ICARS’s experience of promoting responsible antimicrobial use in diverse sectors in low resource settings. Sustainable change in policy and practice is possible when informed by robust scientific data and when it fulfils unmet needs of the receiving community.

What’s Next 

The launch of EUP OHAMR is an important step forward in addressing AMR with a comprehensive One Health approach, which recognises the importance of research efforts across diverse sectors. By aligning priorities across the different organisations that have joined the EUP OHAMR, the Partnership will accelerate progress towards sustainable solutions.  

The Partnership will launch its first joint research call in November 2025, focusing on innovative and cost-effective treatment options for AMR. This call will support research to advance new therapeutics and improve access to effective treatments across the One Health spectrum. Future calls will address strengthening surveillance capacity, infection prevention and control and appropriate use of antimicrobials, and capacity strengthening. 

EUPOHAMR will also begin to launch stakeholder forums, webinars and workshops starting in 2026, addressing pressing challenges such as antibiotic access, infection prevention, and the environmental dimensions of AMR. 

More details are available at the dedicated website of the Consortium https://ohamr.eu