The University of Birmingham-hosted BactiVac Network has been shortlisted under the Research category for this prestigious award ceremony, which aims to raise awareness of the global health threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and recognise shared-learning on AMR across the world.
Antibiotic resistance is a global health threat that we all have a role in tackling. To meet this challenge, the Antibiotic Guardian campaign urges healthcare professionals to take one of a number of pledges to drive down inappropriate antibiotic prescribing. The Awards have recognised a host of health professionals from the fields of human health, animal health, and the food supply chain as well as members of the public, highlighting the collaboration and engagement from the various sectors.
BactiVac is a global network established to help deliver new or better vaccines against bacterial infections in animals and humans, particularly low and middle-income country (LMIC)-relevant diseases. Since its inception in August 2017, the Network has grown to over 760 members across 67 countries, from academia, industry and other partners. BactiVac has also attracted over £3.8 million of funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund, Medical Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Innovate UK and Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC).
Speaking about the Awards, Dr Diane Ashiru-Oredope, Lead for the Antibiotic Guardian campaign, said:
“The Antibiotic Guardian awards are an excellent opportunity to champion organisations and individuals who have supported the Antibiotic Guardian campaign and have enacted change to tackle antimicrobial resistance, one of the biggest global public health threats we face.
“It has been great to see a multipronged and multidisciplinary approach, including infection prevention and control, antimicrobial stewardship, surveillance as well as public and professional education and engagement efforts, all of which are available to view on the shared-learning platform on Antibiotic Guardian website.”
BactiVac’s aim is to provide support and advocacy for bacterial vaccine development, promote expertise-sharing to help deliver new vaccines and thus stop AMR from developing and/or prevent infections where AMR is already a problem.
To achieve this, BactiVac provides funding for catalyst pump-priming projects and training to foster new partnerships and encourage cross-collaboration between academic and industrial partners. Through working with other stakeholders, such as local communities and Parliament, the Network promotes the use and value of vaccines as solutions to the problems of infectious diseases and AMR.
BactiVac, which delivers a large portfolio of catalyst projects by bringing together academic and industry partners from the UK and other high-income countries and low and middle-income countries, targets bacterial diseases in both humans and animals that can lead to the emergence and spread of AMR and pose a significant threat to human health.
BactiVac is hosted at the University of Birmingham, which has one of the biggest teams of microbiologists in the European Union devoted to tackling AMR through pioneering research to better understand how bacteria cause infection, how antibiotics work, the causes of resistance, prevention of spread of resistant bacteria, and finding new ways to treat infections.
The 2019 Awards are set to take place on 27 June at St Johns Hotel, Birmingham, hosted by Public Health England.