Using behavioural and cultural insights to address antimicrobial resistance

7 October 2024,10:00–11:30 (CEST)

Event highlights

15 October 2024

“The threat of ineffective antibiotics and antivirals is not some distant risk: it is already impacting millions. Current projections indicate that 39 million people could die from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) over the next 25 years. That’s 3 deaths every minute. Is this acceptable? Absolutely not.”

With these words, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge opened the virtual Regional Committee side event on how behavioural and cultural insights (BCI) can be leveraged to address the global threat of AMR.

More than 300 participants joined the event that spotlighted interdisciplinary approaches to AMR and featured a range of expert speakers from WHO, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), University of Vienna, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. The audience was engaged throughout the event through questions and polls, which showed that the vast majority think urgent action is needed at global and national level, alongside more investment and accountability. Only a small majority was optimistic about future opportunities to reduce the threat of AMR.

The meeting took place on the back of the global commitment to reduce global deaths due to AMR by 10% by 2030, made at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR in September 2024. The virtual Regional Committee side event also called for urgent action to use behavioural and social sciences to address the threat of AMR.

Emphasizing the need for a multidisciplinary approach to the AMR crisis, Director of the ECDC Dr Pamela Rendi-Wagner advocated for countries to strengthen their capacities to use social and behavioural sciences in public health programming, noting that investing in such capacities will yield the needed dividend.

First Deputy Minister of Health of Kazakhstan Dr Sultangaziyev Timur Slamzhanovich underscored the role health leaders play in supporting and promoting positive behaviours that reduce AMR. He highlighted the successful collaboration between the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan and WHO in strengthening the use of BCI to understand and address AMR in Kazakhstan. This included a study to explore drivers of and barriers to pharmacists selling over-the-counter antibiotics in Astana.

Participants at the event discussed the research and evidence on the application of BCI in the efforts to control AMR, with a presentation on existing knowledge and ways to close knowledge gaps delivered by Professor Robert Böhm of the University of Vienna, who noted that:

• to promote behavioural change, we need to understand the enablers of and barriers to appropriate AMR-related behaviours;
• effective behavioural change interventions require interdisciplinary collaboration; and
• applying BCI to AMR can result in powerful behavioural interventions.

Showcasing country examples of using BCI to address AMR

The main part of the event featured presentations from 3 countries on their experiences and best practices in using BCI to tackle AMR at national level, as set forth below.

• In Hungary, BCI is being used to understand and address inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics for children by paediatric general practitioners. Dr Ágnes Galgóczi, Unit Lead for Infection Prevention and Control at the National Centre for Public Health and Pharmacy in Hungary, shared the lessons learned and important insights in this area.
• Dr Diane Ashiru-Oredope, Lead Pharmacist at the UK Health Security Agency, shared how the United Kingdom applies a strategic approach where BCI is being integrated across AMR efforts, and discussed several initiatives and campaigns that draw on BCI theories and methods.
• Dr Olena Nesterova, research manager at the Public Health Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, highlighted how BCI efforts and training have been scaled up in Ukraine and used to understand antibiotic prescribing practices among hospital health-care workers, with a plan to design targeted interventions to address inappropriate prescribing behaviours.

Event notice

The escalating threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) presents a significant challenge to global health and will require innovative and tailored approaches to address it. Human behaviour, from clinicians’ habits related to antibiotic prescribing and use, to other methods used for infection prevention and control, plays a key role in accelerating AMR. Given the slow pace at which new antibiotics are being developed, it is even more critical to focus urgently on modifying behaviours.

This session will bring together world-leading behavioural and social scientists working on AMR, along with Member State representatives to discuss how behavioural and cultural insights can play a role in tackling this global threat to public health. This discussion will take place in the context of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR. The discussion will focus on real-life case examples and the approaches to use for success.

In addition to Member States, non-state actors, and partners, we invite all interested stakeholders to join. If you would like to join, please contact euinsights@who.int.