4-day Summit: Latin America discusses the role of the community in National Action Plans on AMR

2021-10-28

10-12 November The Latin American Summit "Empowered Communities against Antimicrobial Resistance in the context of COVID-19", will be organized by ReAct Latin America together with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Florida International University Health Consortium. 3 November a pre-summit day is arranged. During the 4-day summit the main theme is the role of the community when implementing and sustaining National Action Plans on AMR. The discussions will be held under the One Health umbrella - the relationship between human health, animal health and health of ecosystems. The summit will be translated into English (live).

The Regional Meeting Empowering Communities against Antimicrobial Resistance in the context of COVID-19 is an initiative that seeks to engage community-based organizations, academia and research centers, as well as health, agricultural and environmental professionals working on AMR-related issues – so we together can seek concrete, inclusive and sustainable solutions to combat this important health threat.

Towards community action plans

The Summit days arises from a need to analyze the National Action Plans on AMR and their implementation in the context of COVID-19. The pandemic delayed the implementation of these plans in some countries and their approval in others – which has lead to significant delays in strategies to contain resistance.

Agenda 10-12 November

Each day has four parts:

• The first part consists of an opening artistic event.
• The second part consists of a lecture and a central panel forum – in which the themes of the day are discussed in general terms.
• The third part consists of simultaneous working groups – each of which will focus on a specific topic.
• The fourth part consists of the closing of the day with a cultural artistic intervention.

The Summit will be translated into English (live).

10 November: A pandemic accelerated by COVID-19

There are multiple interconnections between COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance, starting with the sharp increase in antibiotic misuse spurred by the pandemic. In this context, the aim of this summit is to assess the status of national action plans in Latin America, in the light of the current reality, from the perspective of civil society.

11 November: Learning from community responses to COVID-19 to address antimicrobial resistance

COVID-19 has made it clear that community participation is indispensable for tackling any public health problem. So the aim of this workshop is to learn from community responses to COVID-19 in order to feed back into One Health strategies in the future.

12 November: Towards community action plans

To tackle antimicrobial resistance,  National Plans on AMR need to be translated into local and community action. Hence, the aim of this day is to propose actions at the community level that complement national action plans with concrete suggestions for scaling them up.

Pre-summit day 3 November – voices of the communities

The pre-summit day has a One Health approach and the objective of this day is to increase the dialogue about One Health policy approved by the Pan American Health Organization – this among voices of the scientific community, indigenous peoples and social movements at the regional level.

This year ReAct is celebrating 15 years of action on antibiotic resistance and this  summit is part of the celebration!

The story of ReAct started 15 years ago with a small group of people, many who are still with the network today. They all shared a passion for global health, and felt the urgency to address the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. The network has since grown, with the presence of offices in 5 continents and many passionate members working together.
Read more about ReAct 15 years celebrations and learn more about the story of ReAct!