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Jack Cooper

2024: A turning point for the Fleming Initiative’s fight against AMR

One week after the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance concluded and UN member states had approved a wide-ranging political declaration featuring target-driven AMR commitments for the first time, Lord Darzi reminded us: “This is only the start. We need to sustain this collective urgency and drive solutions around the world.”


The unprecedented attention that antimicrobial resistance has received from political leaders in 2024 marks a turning point in the fight against this invisible health crisis. But we cannot hope to control the spread of antimicrobial resistance without everyone in society playing their part.


As this past year has shown, the Fleming Initiative is set to be a global driving force for bringing scientists, policymakers, health practitioners, and the public together to find real-world solutions to antimicrobial resistance.



The Content, Health and AMR Innovation Network (CHAIN)

In May, the Fleming Initiative united clinician creators and communication experts at the House of Lords to launch CHAIN: a new media network supported by YouTube Health that aims to harness the power and global reach of video-based online content to drive the behaviour changes needed to tackle the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).


To raise public awareness of antimicrobial resistance, the Fleming Initiative mobilised CHAIN members to deliver a coordinated video message in September 2024, coinciding with the UN General Assembly. This saw AMR content released from clinician creators around the world, in English and Portuguese.




Fleming Initiative featured in National Action Plan on antimicrobial resistance

In May, the Department of Health and Social Care laid out the UK government's ambitions for tackling the spread of drug-resistant infections, with the Fleming Initiative named as key to achieving the government’s ambitions for tackling AMR over the next 5 years.


The National Action Plan highlights that the Fleming Initiative “will make a major contribution to containing, controlling, and mitigating AMR, by co-locating diverse expertise and centralising the role of civil society in addressing the crisis.”




Fleming Initiative at the UN General Assembly

In September, Lord Darzi and the Fleming Initiative team had an impactful week in New York City at the UN General Assembly. Through a week-long Times Square billboard campaign, three Fleming Initiative-led events, and participation in panel discussions, the team engaged New Yorkers, policymakers, industry, and patient groups with our vision for fighting antimicrobial resistance.


The Fleming Initiative hosted three side events that convened leading experts and organisations to discuss innovative solutions to AMR.


  • A roundtable event with Google DeepMind on the role of AI in tackling AMR


  • An event showcasing the power of global public engagement and education, hosted by philanthropic organisation the Carnegie Corporation of New York.


  • An event discussing the importance of disruptive innovation, at which the Fleming Initiative shared their call-to-action for newest innovations to be utilised in the fight against AMR, including AI and machine learning.




Fleming Initiative raises first £100m in the global fight against AMR

Through the support of a wide range of commercial, government, and philanthropic partners, including Cepheid, GSK, LifeArc, and Optum, the Fleming Initiative has successfully reached its initial funding milestone of £100m to begin a global programme of work that supports its mission to protect global populations from the threat of antimicrobial resistance.


With the funding and support of partners, the Fleming Initiative will launch global programmes of work to address the drivers of AMR, develop international networks of AMR expertise, and outline strategic research themes to rapidly advance solutions to these urgent challenges.





Professor Alison Holmes appointed as inaugural Director of the Fleming Initiative

In October, Professor Alison Holmes was announced as the inaugural Director of the Fleming Initiative.


Professor Alison Holmes is a renowned expert in infectious diseases, currently serving as the David Price Evans Chair of Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of Liverpool and a Professor at Imperial College London. Her internationally recognised research focuses on infectious diseases and antibiotic use, particularly in the prevention of infections and the optimization of antimicrobial therapies.


Professor Alison Holmes, said: “The Fleming Initiative’s ambition to unite scientists, policymakers, and the public is a vision I have long championed. I look forward to playing a central role in fostering a global movement to combat antimicrobial resistance while honoring the legacy of Fleming and his laboratory at St Mary’s Hospital.”




World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) report on antimicrobial resistance

The first WISH report on AMR in over a decade, co-chaired by Lord Darzi, reflects on global progress in tackling AMR since, considers opportunities for action, and makes policy recommendations to build on the United Nations Political Declaration of the High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance.


In a keynote speech for the World Innovation Summit for Health’s November opening ceremony, Lord Darzi spoke passionately of the radical action needed to protect humanity from the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance.


"Our latest WISH report sets out six recommendations, beginning with the implementation of September’s UN declaration to establish an independent body to drive action on antimicrobial resistance. We also call on all high income countries to commit by 2027 to prescribe antibiotics only when the need is confirmed by a diagnostic test. These are critical moves if the world is to protect itself against what has been described as a “slow pandemic”."




Convening Global Leaders in Education

The Fleming Initiative maintained the momentum set by the UN General Assembly by immediately starting to focus on and address key issues raised in the High-Level Political Declaration, namely the commitment on education, which calls for modules on antimicrobial resistance to be integrated into primary, secondary and tertiary education and training curricula around the world.


At a November webinar co-hosted by the Fleming Initiative and CAMO-Net, supported by the World Health Organization, Professor Alison Holmes announced the launch of the Fleming Initiative’s Global Review into AMR education. Led by Dr Kate Grailey, this will convene key stakeholders and experts across the globe, looking to gain consensus on what young people should know about AMR, mapping current initiatives, and creating a roadmap for embedding AMR into curricula in the future.


We are excited to progress our work in this area with the World Health Organization in May 2025, with an in-person meeting in the process of being planned.



Professor Holmes shares our vision for fighting AMR in Paris

Continuing in our global convening commitment, our Director chaired a panel at the Parisian British Embassy on Diagnostics, Surveillance and Data at a high-level meeting on tackling AMR.


This November event highlighted the critical role of diagnostics in addressing AMR through improved individual management and prescribing, and through informing and improving public health, policy and research. It emphasised the need to think globally and across sectors. It also demonstrated the longstanding relationship between the UK and France in addressing global priorities.



Paddington Station Pop-Up

At the heart of the Fleming Initiative’s approach is a belief that citizens across the world need to engage with the issue of AMR.


For November’s World AMR Awareness Week, the Fleming Initiative teamed up with GSK – one of our commercial partners – at London's Paddington Station to raise awareness of the risks of antimicrobial resistance and empower everyone to take action.




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