30 Aug 2024

By Linka Maritz

CREST recently hosted a series of dialogues to engage with researchers and professionals in food, agriculture and health on their experiences with antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This project was funded by a knowledge translation grant from The British Academy since Prof Marina Joubert is a member of their Global Convening Programme to develop a Just Transitions framework for sustainable and equitable mitigation of antimicrobial resistance.

Artwork inspired by the dialogues will be included in the summary report. Illustration by Linka Maritz.

The 2-hour dialogues were facilitated by Linka Maritz and Prof Joubert and there were 42 participants split across five sessions in Stellenbosch and Cape Town. The participants came from different fields such as health, food science, agriculture, animal health, and the environment as well as science communication and journalism. The dialogues provided an opportunity for participants from these diverse fields to network and share insights and concerns with one another as well as co-create solutions for the mitigation of AMR that are just and equitable and suitable for the local context of South Africa.

The communication challenges and public perceptions of AMR were also significant topics of conversation as professionals in various fields struggle to convey the seriousness of this ‘silent pandemic’. Participants shared successful campaigns that they are aware of, powerful metaphors and personal experiences. One attendee referred to the complexity around AMR and its communication as being “faced with circles within circles”.

The sessions elicited productive conversations, and we received overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants. Our next step will be to analyse the conversations, highlighting dominant themes, challenges and solutions. These will be put together into a summary report to be distributed to all participants and interested parties.

If you would like to know more, or receive a copy of the report, please email marinajoubert@sun.ac.za