The first of a series of workshops to investigate the intersection of climate, gender, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) have taken place in Bangalore, India.
The Gender and Antimicrobial Resistance Workshop, and the upcoming series of events around this topic, are part of a WHO grant awarded to CAMO-Net South Africa Co-lead Dr Esmita Charani. The work builds on the intersectional research that Dr Charani is leading as part of her Wellcome Trust Fellowship and the CAMO-Net at the University of Cape Town.
The PROTEA (Power Relations in the Optimisation of Therapeutics and Equity in Access) is a Wellcome Trust Career Development grant awarded to Dr Charani at the University of Cape Town to investigate intersectional approaches to AMR in South Africa and India. The WHO award was awarded in collaboration with with Dr Deepshikha Batheja from One Health Trust and Eh!woza co-founder Dr Anastasia Koch. These grants are closely connected with the work planned in the CAMO-Net with a special focus on India and South Africa.
Eh!woza is an HIV/TB engagement collaboration between South African biomedical researchers, a conceptual artist, an NGO, and young people from Khayelitsha, Cape Town. The One Health Trust is a public health research organisation that produces independent research on global health, infectious disease control, drug resistance, and vaccines.
Featuring experts in AMR, gender, caste, and climate change, The Gender and Antimicrobial Resistance Workshop provided insightful discussions on equitable and sustainable solutions for AMR across the two days in Bengaluru.
The delegates delved into how social inequities, climate change, and caste contribute to the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens. Dialogue on these complex issues and mapping tensions and trade-offs is the beginning of a journey towards creating equitable and sustainable solutions for AMR around the world.
Dr Charani said, “We are so glad to have been able to hold this conversation across the diverse group of experts representing climate, gender, and AMR, and we are excited at the work we have planned across our grants and collaborations over the next four years. In this innovative workshop we made some important strides towards better understanding the complex issues surrounding AMR in our most diverse communities. This collaboration will ultimately help create effective, equitable, and sustainable solutions from within those communities using the knowledge and experience of the people who live within them.”
The discussions will continue with planned workshops across adult and youth citizens and health care workers in South Africa in May-June 2024.
