Exploring the policy dynamics of global antimicrobial resistance initiatives

Overview

This project is among the first to systematically trace political dynamics surrounding antimicrobial resistance (AMR) initiatives. A range of scholars in public health and other sciences have called for systematic political research that could help explain why policies to combat AMR do not figure more prominently on the global agenda. While international cooperation is key in containing such slow-onset transboundary disasters, concerted transnational initiatives to combat AMR have been few and far between. This project focuses particularly on problem brokers and policy entrepreneurs inside international agencies and national governments, as agents of agenda-setting and policy-making. It charts the emergence of the 2015 Global Action Plan on AMR, its effects on subsequently published National Action Plans, and the depth with which such action plans address real AMR challenges in each context.

Outcomes

The project has produced several journal and book articles, and is releasing an edited volume on global health responses to AMR (under contract with Oxford University Press for 2022). Links to publications:

• Antimicrobial Resistance as a Global Health Crisis
• The global governance of antimicrobial resistance: a cross-country study of alignment between the global action plan and national action plans
• Attention to the Tripartite’s one health measures in national action plans on antimicrobial resistance
• The state of social science research on antimicrobial resistance
• The promises and pitfalls of polysemic ideas: ‘One Health’ and antimicrobial resistance policy in Australia and the UK

Impact

The project:

• Charts roles and impacts of policy entrepreneurs and problem brokers in developing the 2015 Global Action Plan against AMR
• Traces effects of global AMR initiatives on national strategies and policies
• Generates interdisciplinary dialogue and creativity through workshops between public health professionals and researchers, political scientists, and crisis and disaster specialists.