• The webinar “Curbing the Invisible Pandemic: Effective Solutions to Collectively Combat Antimicrobial Resistance” was held on December 7, 2021

December 7, 2021 — The International Vaccine Institute (IVI), Asian Development Bank Southeast Asia Development Solutions (ADB SEADS), Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK), the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS), and the Embassy of Denmark in Korea held a joint webinar today to bring awareness to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and discuss sustainable solutions to the global public health threat.

The webinar highlighted the necessary tools and strategies for tackling the root causes of AMR emergence and spread, including the development of vaccines and new drugs as well as initiatives to strengthen global and national capacities in AMR surveillance and data collection in order to implement targeted solutions.

Presentations on this topic included:

• “Vaccines against AMR—the short- and long-term game” by Dr. Marianne Holm, Head of Epidemiology and Public Health Research, IVI
• “Reinforcing the antibiotic arsenal: conventional and non-conventional strategies” by Dr. Soojin Jang, Head of Antibacterial Resistance Lab, IPK
• “From evidence to action: partnering to tackle AMR in LMICs” by Dr. Robert Skov, Scientific Director, ICARS

A panel discussion on effective strategies to strengthen global and regional capacities and capabilities for AMR followed, moderated by Dr. Eduardo P. Banzon, Principal Health Specialist in the Southeast Asia Department of ADB, and featuring:

• Gloria Cristina Córdoba Currea, AMR Advisor, ICARS
• Nitish Debnath, Team Leader, Fleming Fund Country Grant, DAI Global Health, Bangladesh
• Han, Sangkyun, Director, Disease Policy Department, Ministry of Health, ROK
• Nithima Sumpradit, Head of System Research and Development Unit, Ministry of Public Health, Thailand

“I am delighted to engage a global network of IVI’s partners and supporters for today’s webinar who have been at the forefront of developing solutions to this grave global health threat and communicating its urgency. Although often prefaced by ‘invisible’ or silent, slow, or unseen to evoke its insidious spread, the AMR pandemic is no less threatening than a rapidly spreading infectious disease like COVID-19 with the potential to disrupt ways of life in all corners of the world and upend a century of medical progress,” said Dr. Jerome Kim, Director General of IVI.

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About the International Vaccine Institute (IVI)

The International Vaccine Institute (IVI) is a nonprofit inter-governmental organization established in 1997 at the initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). IVI has 36 countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) on its treaty, including the Republic of Korea, Sweden, India, and Finland as state funders.

Our mandate is to make vaccines available and accessible for the world’s most vulnerable people. We focus on infectious diseases of global health importance such as cholera, typhoid, shigella, salmonella, schistosomiasis, chikungunya, group A strep, Hepatitis A, HPV, TB, HIV, MERS, COVID-19, as well as antimicrobial resistance. For more information, please visit https://www.ivi.int.