Dear friends and colleagues,
We are pleased to present our quarterly edition of news and updates from the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions.
After an in-depth reflection and collaboration between ICARS staff, partners, and the Board of Directors, our strategic vision has come into sharp focus, and we are excited to share with you the ICARS Strategy 2022 - 2026.
Aside from strategic, long-term thinking, the ICARS team have also been busy on the ground. With more than 20 projects in implementation, and many more in the pipeline, we have been busy working with in-country project teams. In July, co-development workshops were held in Lao and Benin, where cross-cutting teams of Ministries, research institutions and ICARS advisors developed proposals for future projects across the human and animal sectors.
As part of our outreach and collaborations with Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) we also attended and co-funded the ReAct Africa and South Centre Annual conference in July in Zambia. The dynamic event attracted AMR leaders from across the African Region and provided fertile ground to share progress on National Action Plans implementation. Projects supported by ICARS in Tanzania and Zambia presented and shared lessons learnt to the wider audience and it was a great opportunity to host side-events to connect project teams for future knowledge exchange.
As part of our outreach and direct engagement with countries we had a range of visits. This included joining the Danish Minister of Health, Magnus Heunicke's official visit to South Korea and Japan. In addition a delegation from ICARS spent a week in Washington DC and Atlanta to discuss partnership opportunities with a range of stakeholders and funders. They also attended the AMR Congress to present ICARS to the public and private sector community and invite collaboration. We are also pleased to share the good news that we are growing our ICARS family as Kyrgyzstan has signed an agreement to become our fourth Mission Partner. The agreement was signed by Kyrgyzstan's Minister for Health, Gulnara Baatyrova, at a symposium attended by ICARS.
Last month, we also had the pleasure of meeting with representatives from six other AMR centres based in Nordic countries This gathering provided a platform to introduce our various initiatives, share learnings, and explore areas for future collaboration. Members of the ICARS team also joined a laboratory session to learn about antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) procedures and practices. The hands-on session was part of a short course aimed at policymakers to build a deeper understanding of AMR policy from the lens of implementation and intervention research.
Thank you for your interest in ICARS! Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn for the latest news from ICARS, recommended readings and events.
Do you think this newsletter could be interesting for someone in your network? Invite them to subscribe here.
With all best wishes,
The ICARS Team
