News and updates from the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions

Last month ICARS announced our independence following the appointment of our first Board of Directors. As the supreme governing body of ICARS, the Board of Directors holds both strategic and financial responsibility and brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to support ICARS’ mission. The current Board, appointed by the Danish Minister for Health, will operate until the end of 2023. In light of the close cooperation, the Tripartite+ and the World Bank have each been invited to appoint an observer. The Board held its first virtual meeting on 13th December where it constituted itself and among other things approved ICARS' budget for 2022.

Last month we co-hosted the Call to Action conference, a virtual event bringing together stakeholders from around the world to share best practices for tackling AMR. Following three days of rich discussion and cross-country learning, we are now in the process of developing a range of resources that we look forward to launching in early 2022.

The collaboration will harness the power of the Global AMR R&D Hub’s Dynamic Dashboard to explore the current landscape of Operational and Implementation Research within low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), in an effort to connect AMR interventions with concrete outcomes. In doing so, we hope to be able to develop a pathway from knowledge to shape policy, programmes and practice.

ICARS is proud to partner with the UK Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) to tackle AMR by funding an innovative project led by Porkcolombia to improve uptake of disease diagnostics at pig farms in Colombia. With funding from ICARS and GAMRIF, interdisciplinary experts on the ground will investigate the challenges and opportunities around the uptake of diagnostic services in Colombia, and their potential impact on the reduction of antibiotic use in farming within and beyond Colombia.

We know that individuals experience AMR differently, but the unique ways and extent to which gender impacts this experience is relatively underexplored. Furthermore, research processes can exacerbate gender inequality and prevent inclusive practice. To address this gap, IDRC and ICARS have jointly organised roundtable discussions to identify priority research areas relating to gender and the prevention and containment of AMR across the One Health spectrum.

Through this collaboration with the CGIAR AMR Hub, ICARS is building the training capacity of LMIC partners in antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The partnership enables the establishment of a state-of-the art centre of excellence for testing, and will generate capacity for research through exchange programmes at ILRI and for delivering ICARS intervention projects.

ICARS and ReAct are co-developing applied implementation tools and guidance that are context-specific, including a tool for developing a comprehensive country analysis. The project is focused on the African context, specifically sub-Saharan African countries, and is intended to support NAP implementation. This project builds on the tools available through the ReAct Toolbox.

ICARS signs Memorandum of Understanding with the Kyrgyz Republic

On 15 December 2021, ICARS’ Scientific Director, Robert Skov, met with representatives from the Kyrgyz Republic Ministry of Health to sign a Memorandum of Understanding. The signing ceremony marks a shared commitment to begin an integrated intervention research and implementation project on antimicrobial resistance. The project aims to facilitate appropriate antibiotic use for treating children with respiratory tract infections in Kyrgyzstan by using a rapid point-of-care test to measure C-reactive protein.

The science team have been busy reviewing expressions of interests and working with Ministries and in-country teams to co-develop concept notes and project proposals for the next round of demonstration projects. The map above shows the projects that are currently being implemented in Vietnam and Georgia, countries where we have recently committed to new projects, and others where early discussions and co-development are underway. Watch this space for more information about our new projects in future newsletters!