Community Engagement for Antimicrobial Resistance (CE4AMR)

Community Engagement for Antimicrobial Resistance (CE4AMR) champions the use of community engagement, participatory, and creative approaches to tackle Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries. Rather than see these approaches as “add-ons” to research, CE4AMR views them as integral to meeting the AMR objectives laid out by the World Health Organisation and country-specific AMR action plans.

AMR is a One Health issue and requires collaborative efforts across sectors from farming to drug development to environmental surveillance. Equally critical, the global public must be able to themselves make informed decisions around AMR. This goes beyond the light-touch tactics of awareness raising and requires a truly collaborative approach to develop an understanding of how AMR impacts the daily lives of each specific community. CE4AMR believes that if communities are fully informed and engaged with the concept of AMR then subsequent AMR behaviour change will be meaningful and sustainable, allowing global AMR objectives to be met. CE4AMR will be launching a series of collaborative projects to incorporate community engagement methods into international AMR action in the coming 2 years. We would also be keen to hear from anyone who is interested in collaborating to this effect.

How do Changing the Story fit in?

Changing the Story’s involvement with AMR dates back to 2016 where in partnership with HERD international, a Nepal-based health NGO, the team developed the Community Arts against Antibiotic Resistance in Nepal (CARAN) project, a project which used participatory film-making to engage Nepali communities with the concept of AMR and its linkages to their daily lives.

The success of CARAN facilitated the development of the Community Engagement for Antimicrobial Resistance (CE4AMR) project and the expansion of this already international and interdisciplinary team.

Professor Paul Cooke (World Cinema and Digital Cultures) and Dr Rebecca King (Nuffield Centre for International Health and Development) are now joined by PhD student Nichola Jones and Post-Doctoral researcher Jessica Mitchell whilst they continue to collaborate with both HERD international and Changing the Story (Ines Soria-Donlan and Lauren Wray) on future projects.

How you can get involved?

CE4AMR recognises that there are many challenges in applying community engagement methods to One Health issues. As such, the CE4AMR network launched in June 2019 with a 3-day workshop hosted by HERD International for international delegates based in Nepal. Over 40 international delegates contributed to group discussions and interactive activities with the aim of building a greater understanding of how community engagement is defined in the One Health sphere and where resources and support is needed to apply this methodology to AMR.

A web-based platform will follow soon but for now keep up to date with developments @CE4AMR and look out for blogs on the Changing the Story website.

To join our network please contact jess j.mitchell1@leeds.ac.uk.