Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top threats to health globally, estimated to be associated with nearly 5 million deaths every year. This course will provide knowledge and tools you can use in your professional life to help tackle the huge challenge of AMR.
Without effective antibiotics to treat infections, many aspects of healthcare and life in general are at risk. Amid growing urgency, in September 2024 global leaders made a political declaration to address AMR and set a target to reduce associated deaths by 10% by 2030. This is part of a wide range of agreed targets and actions aimed at addressing this intractable problem.
In response to the need for an all-encompassing approach, world-leading experts from the AMR Centre at LSHTM and external partners cover AMR from many different angles in this 5-day online course. Through lectures and interactive workshops, you will learn from their experience. In addition, you will be able to draw on the perspectives of a diverse group of classmates who are facing the effects of AMR in a variety of ways.
What you will learn
The course is designed to equip you with a breadth of skills and understanding to help you address the global threat of AMR in your role. Topics include the biology of antibacterial resistance, quantifying antibiotic use and resistance, and different strategies for controlling AMR.
Incorporating a unique range of disciplines from clinical and biopharma to social science, the course addresses the key objectives of the AMR Global Action Plan:
- to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance;
- to strengthen knowledge through surveillance and research;
- to reduce the incidence of infection;
- to optimise the use of antimicrobial agents;
- develop the economic case for sustainable investment that takes account of the needs of all countries, and increase investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools, vaccines and other interventions.
Who is the course for?
The course is aimed at those designing, implementing and evaluating strategies to address AMR. For example, you may be involved in national action plans, or supporting local antimicrobial stewardship or One Health initiatives, and want to broaden your understanding. It is highly relevant for members of National Action Plan committees, policy and practice professionals who are required to address and support AMR initiatives, mid-career scientists and postgraduate students, and clinicians who would benefit from an understanding of the public health importance of AMR and actions to tackle the problem.
The course will have a specific focus on AMR in low- and middle-income countries, and discounts are offered for self-funding attendees from these countries. Applicants should have a good command of English, as all teaching will be in English. Through this course, you will join a supportive and diverse network of people with a shared interest in the global AMR challenge, and many past students remain closely connected with the AMR Centre at LSHTM.
Course tutors
Teaching staff include:
- Kat Holt (LSHTM)
- Gwen Knight (LSHTM)
- Clare Chandler (LSHTM)
- Catherine Goodman (LSHTM)
- Wendy Graham (LSHTM)
- Richard Stabler (LSHTM)
- Zoe Dyson (LSHTM)
- Harparkash Kaur (LSHTM)
- Rebecca Glover (LSHTM)
- Sam Willcocks (LSHTM)
- Ebenezer Foster-Nyarko (LSHTM)
- Alex Aiken (LSHTM)
- Saffiatou Darboe (MRC Gambia @ LSHTM)
- Paul Turner (Cambodia Oxford Medical Research Unit)
- Andrew Singer (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology)
- Class Kirchhelle (INSERM)
- Esmita Charani (Imperial College London)
- Ben Swift (Royal Veterinary College)
Keynote lecture: TBD
Past keynotes include Silvia Bertagnolio (WHO AMR Division, 2024); Marc Mendelson (Trinity Challenge, 2023), Ramanan Laxminarayan (One Health Trust, 2022) and Laura Piddock (GARDP, 2021).
Additional information
Aims & objectives
This course equips delegates with the knowledge, conceptual frameworks and tools necessary to understand the complex global threat of Antimicrobial Resistance. The course learning reflects a One Health perspective that incorporates multiple disciplines, multiple sectors and national and international level considerations. Specifically, the course will:
- Provide grounding in multiple aspects of antimicrobial resistance as outlined in the WHO Global Action Plan
- Guide participants through the interdisciplinary understanding of AMR from molecular biology to medical anthropology
- To review and analyse a wide range of relevant topics - including definitions, genetics, epidemiology, public health impact, ethics, patient and health worker knowledge, chemical analysis, regulation and potential interventions
- Outline key challenges in developing and implementing interventions
- Equip participants to critically analyse and improve policies and strategies in the low and middle-income countries where they work.
- To bring together a diversity of faculty and postgraduate students, interested in the subject to learn and discuss together.
Course content
- The history of antibiotics and the emergence of antibiotic resistance
- Antibiotic targets and mechanisms of resistance
- Diagnostic laboratory identification of AMR
- Break points and standardisation
- AMR surveillance methods and burden of drug-resistant infections
- Pharmacokinetics, exposure and drug failure
- One health and AMR
- The use of genomics in AMR
- Antibiotic usage and agriculture
- AMR and the environment
- Infection control
- Antimicrobial stewardship
- The role of diagnostics in reducing antibiotic usage
- Role of water, sanitation and hygiene in AMR
- Role of vaccines in reducing AMR
- Novel alternatives to antimicrobials
- Developing new therapies
- Economics of AMR
- Social science aspects of antibiotic use
Teaching methods and course materials
Faculty for the course will include staff from the LSHTM Antimicrobial Resistance Centre who have extensive expertise in many aspects of AMR. Additional external lecturers will be brought in to provide specialist insights.
Teaching will be conducted online through the Moodle learning environment and will include both synchronous and asynchronous lectures, group work, and opportunities for participatory learning. The course materials, including lecture notes and PowerPoint presentations, key references and other programme support materials will be provided electronically.
Attendance
The course will be full-time for 5 days. The course will be limited to a maximum of 40 participants.
As the course this year will run online, applicants must commit to completing the course during the designated week (16 – 20 September 2024). Lecturers and recordings will not be available beyond that period.
Methods of assessment
There is no formal assessment but at the conclusion of the course, a Certificate of Attendance will be provided.
The course fee for 2024 entry is £1,299.
A maximum of 20 reduced fee places are available for candidates from low and middle income countries and for self-funding applicants. Reduced fee places will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
Applying for this course
Applications are now closed. You can register your interest and we will let you know when applications reopen.
Please read LSHTM's Admissions policies prior to submitting your application.