221.630.81
Tackling the Intersectoral Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance: Problem Solving Seminar
Location
Internet
Term
3rd Term
Department
International Health
Credit(s)
3
Academic Year
2021 - 2022
Instruction Method
Asynchronous Online with Some Synchronous Online
Auditors Allowed
Yes, with instructor consent
Available to Undergraduate
No
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Course Instructor(s)
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Resources
Prerequisite
Why has it taken decades for the challenge of AMR to be recognized as the extraordinary threat it is to the miracles of modern-day medicine? The UK Review on AMR projected that 700,000 die annually of drug-resistant infections. By 2050, 10 mil people will die of drug-resistant infections--more than the number who die of cancer each year today. The World Bank projects that up to 24 mil more people would be forced into extreme poverty, and if AMR goes unchecked, the loss of annual GDP could mount to $3.4 trillion by 2030. What steps account for its rise from neglect to 1 of 4 global health issues ever discussed by the UN General Assembly--what will it take to mobilize the resources to respond?
Examines antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as an intersectoral challenge, one that affects both our healthcare delivery and food systems. As a One Health issue, AMR also has an environmental dimension: up to 80% of some antimicrobials consumed by humans or food animals may be discharged into the environment. The incentives of traditional business models, where a drug company’s revenues come from volume-based sales, are at odds with efforts to ensure access, but not excess use of antimicrobials. Some have called AMR an ongoing pandemic; others have noted the opportunity to invest in shared infrastructure, from infection control and prevention to integrated disease surveillance, that might address both future pandemics and AMR. Invites students to tackle this global health challenge by applying strategic planning tools to deepen one’s appreciation and find creative solutions to AMR.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
- Examine how global policymaking influences and guides the workings of intergovernmental agencies, national governments and local healthcare delivery and food production
- Analyze the ethical tensions in ensuring access, but not excess of antibiotic use in both healthcare delivery and the food production system
- Discuss approaches that use monitoring and transparency to ensure accountability for public health goals that could also be applied to AMR
- Examine the economics, equity and trade-offs of differing models of pharmaceutical innovation and access
- Identify how conflict of interest potentially influences the policy process and how to safeguard this against such special interests
- Explain how a One Health approach to tackling antimicrobial resistance reveals both tensions and opportunities for intersectoral collaboration
- Assess how economic incentives and financial approaches can exacerbate or mitigate the challenge of antimicrobial resistance
- Recognize the disparate impact of policy interventions across countries, sectors and settings of differing resource levels.
- Create a strategic plan using Logical Framework Approach tools (problem and objective trees, stakeholder analyses, and SWOT analyses) and design a systems-level intervention that will make a catalytic difference in advancing antimicrobial resistance policy or outcomes
- Propose interprofessional team approaches to tackle antimicrobial resistance
Methods of Assessment
This course is evaluated as follows:
- 20% Participation
- 15% Quizzes
- 15% Group Work
- 25% Written Assignment(s)
- 25% Group Project(s)