During the Danish visit of Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of the Republic of India, it was announced that India will join ICARS as a Mission Partner.
The formal partnership between India and ICARS demonstrates an expression of support to ICARS’ mission and vision, a commitment to actively working to mitigate AMR, and lays strong foundations for new context-specific and cost-effective solutions for reducing drug-resistant infections in India. In the India-Denmark joint statement published following the visit, it explicitly outlines a “continued collaboration in the field of antimicrobial resistance” and confirms that India will join ICARS as a Mission Partner.
“Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global health threat that calls for strong partnership and cross-sectoral collaboration. I am delighted that India is joining ICARS as a Mission Partner. Not only does it demonstrate a clear commitment to tackling AMR in the country, but it amplifies ICARS’ important mission to work with low-and middle-income countries to develop context-specific AMR solutions across the One Health spectrum.”
– Dr. Renu Swarup, Vice-Chair, ICARS Board of Directors
Today’s positive announcement follows many productive meetings that acknowledge the urgent need for tailored solutions to mitigate AMR. In March this year, ICARS’ Scientific Director, Dr. Robert Skov travelled to India together with the Danish Minister for Health, Magnus Heunicke, to attend an AMR conference hosted by the Danish Embassy. The conference provided an important platform for knowledge exchange and was attended by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, the National Centre for Disease Control, The Public Health Foundation of India, The Indian Council for Agriculture Research, the Indian Institute of Technology, the WHO and CDC country offices, USAID and other key regional stakeholders.
At the event, Dr. Skov introduced ICARS, its model of engagement with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and shared examples of projects currently underway in Georgia and Vietnam. This was complimented by presentations from other organisations, agencies and institutes who presented their work in the AMR space.
Following the high-level event, Dr. Skov had a series of positive meetings with representatives from Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP) and Center For Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP) to discuss opportunities for future collaboration. The visit also provided a valuable platform for Dr. Skov, and ICARS AMR Advisor Dr Philip Mathew, to visit a premier health research institute in India Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore and field sites to identify possible entry points for mitigating AMR in practice. This included a visit to a rural, government-run hospital and primary health centre, as well as a small-scale poultry farm (14000 birds). Site visits offer an opportunity to scope the capacity available in the country, meet possible partners, and provide members of the ICARS team first-hand experience of the local systems and challenges.
During the trip, Dr. Skov and Dr. Mathew also attended a colloquium of more than 50 professionals and policy experts, hosted by ReAct Asia Pacific and others, to discuss the future of AMR action in India and the progress of state action plans. At the event, experts from the One Health sectors of health, animal husbandry, fisheries and environment called on the Government of India to actively engage the state governments to build capacity for formulating and implementing action plans on AMR. You can find out more about the event here.
During his visit to Denmark, Shri Narendra Modi discussed progress on the bilateral Green Strategic Partnership between India and Denmark, which was launched in September 2020 and includes specific reference to ICARS. The partnership is intended to “advance political cooperation, expand economic relations and green growth, create jobs and strengthen cooperation on addressing global challenges and opportunities; with focus on an ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals”. This includes expanding collaboration in the areas of agriculture technology, particularly in the sectors of food safety, food processing, fertilizers, fisheries and agriculture – areas which would benefit from antimicrobial resistance mitigation solutions.
“ICARS is pleased to welcome India as a Mission Partner. We look forward to building a close, productive relationship that generates new AMR solutions in the country, provides opportunities for cross-country and cross-regional knowledge sharing, and that inspires others to formally support the ICARS initiative to work together to mitigate AMR in LMICs.”
– Rector Henrik Wegener, Chair, ICARS Board of Directors
We are proud to welcome India as our Mission Partner and look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration in the years to come. Learn more about our partnership model.
Notes to the Editor
About ICARS
ICARS’ mission is to partner with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in their efforts to reduce drug-resistant infections. In partnership with LMIC ministries and local research institutions, ICARS co-develop interventions, which provide evidence for context-specific and cost-effective solutions to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) that are fit for sustainable scale-up. Through provision of funding and expertise, ICARS supports intervention and implementation research projects across the One Health spectrum to support countries AMR National Action Plans (NAP). Initiated by the Danish government, ICARS’ is now an independent organisation, governed by an International Board of Directors.
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