Forced Migration and Antimicrobial Resistance: Research and Policy
Date: June 20, 2023
Time: 10:00am-11:00am ET
As of 2022, more than 100 million people have fled their homes due to war and persecution, as well as the effects of climate change and other disasters. As migration increases worldwide, so does the need for better research to inform policies to protect the health of migrants. And this research and policymaking must recognize the protracted nature of displacement as communities may be displaced for years or decades. Access to antimicrobials and strategies to reduce antimicrobial resistance within refugee settlements, receive little attention and the knowledge gaps in these areas are significant.
On World Refugee Day, June 20th, the AMR Policy Accelerator and the Center on Forced Displacement will partner on a webinar to generate awareness of the challenges at the interface of two of the most pressing global issues – forced migration and AMR.
Webinar objectives
- Increase understanding of the diverse drivers of forced migration (conflict, persecution, climate change).
- Hear from researchers, policy experts and clinical professionals on AMR and AMU in migrant and displaced populations.
- Learn about current research and the policy guidance that is available and where gaps exist.
Moderator
Muhammad Hamid Zaman is Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Global Health at Boston University and inaugural Director of Center on Forced Displacement at Boston University. His work focuses on, among other things, understanding the drivers of drug resistant infections among forcibly displaced communities in camps, urban centers and informal settlements.
Panelists
Dr. Susan Rogers Van Katwyk is Managing Director of the AMR Policy Accelerator, an Adjunct Professor with the School of Global Health at York University and an epidemiologist with significant experience engaging policymakers and mobilizing interdisciplinary teams to improve policy implementation, evaluation and decision making at national and international levels. Susan also holds leadership positions with the WHO Collaborating Centre on Global Governance of Antimicrobial Resistance and the International Network for AMR Social Science (INAMRSS).
Dr. Shobha Lumxi is a Karachi-based infectious disease physician with fellowships in general medicine and infectious diseases. She is also an infectious diseases consultant (and treasurer) with the Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Society of Pakistan (MMIDSP). Her areas of interest include infections in immunocompromised patients, antimicrobial resistance and tropical infections. Shobha has worked in numerous camps for those displaced by flooding.
Neila Gross is a Materials Engineering Ph.D. candidate and an NSF Graduate Research Fellow in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. Her current research focuses on both laboratory and computational research of anthropogenic environmental variables and their effects on antimicrobial resistance. Her research is specifically attenuated to low-income and developing nation geographies. She received her BSE in Chemical engineering from Notre Dame, where she researched biofilm substrates in antimicrobial resistance of cystic fibrosis patients.
Related Research & Resources
Visit the CFD website.
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For information on the Center on Forced Displacement, email Muhammad Hamid Zaman.
Capturing the evidence on access to essential antibiotics in refugee and migrant populations. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2022
