SPONSORED WORKSHOP
Covering a global health crisis: a workshop on effective reporting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health crisis, associated with nearly five million deaths¹ a year. Infections that were once easily cured by antibiotics are increasingly developing resistance, making them much harder to treat. Despite its urgency, AMR is often overlooked or poorly understood by the public, in part due to limited media coverage. However, in an increasingly fragmented media ecosystem and with a decline in the number of specialist health and science writers, there is an urgent need to nurture interest and build capacity to support effective media coverage of this global health threat. Collectively, presenters and participants will discuss the complexities surrounding AMR and explore innovative approaches and story ideas to enhance meaningful media coverage.
By way of background, see: ¹ Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance 1990–2021: a systematic analysis with forecasts to 2050 – The Lancet
This session is sponsored by the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP).
Programme
Research perspectives
- An overview of AMR as one of the top 10 global health threats – Professor Natalie Shellack, Pharmacology, University of Pretoria (15 minutes)
- Developing antibiotics to counter drug-resistant infections – Carol Ruffell, Director: GARDP Africa (10 minutes)
- Video: Fighting for their lives: Bringing hope to babies with sepsis (5 minutes)
Questions from the audience and discussion
Media perspectives
- Media interest in AMR: Challenges and potential solutions – Professor Marina Joubert, Science Communication, Stellenbosch University (5 minutes)
- Telling stories to make AMR human and real – Mia Malan, Founder & Editor, Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism (5 minutes)
- A journalist’s perspective on AMR media coverage – Munya Makoni, Africa CDC (5 minutes)
- Reporting about AMR: A perspective from India – Subhra Priyadarshini, Nature India (5 minutes)
- The role of multimedia in AMR capacitation and communication – Werner Breedt, health advocate (5 minutes)
Panel and audience discussion on co-creating solutions for improving the impact of media coverage of AMR across countries and diverse contexts.
Kim CloeteModerator | Communication Manager, Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) Africa | South Africa
Kim Cloete is a media specialist with an abiding interest in public health and science. Kim is the Africa communications lead for the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP). She has had a successful career as a television, radio, print, and online journalist and has won several national and international journalism awards.
Natalie SchellackSpeaker | University of Pretoria | South Africa
Prof Natalie Schellack is a registered pharmacist and currently the head of the Department of Pharmacology, University of Pretoria. She holds three degrees, two bachelor’s degrees (nursing and pharmacy) and a PhD in Pharmacy. Outside the University, she serves on the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) and is the editor of the South African Pharmacy Journal (SAPJ). Her research interests are centred on the broad area of infectious diseases (aspects related to antimicrobial stewardship).
Carol RuffellSpeaker | Director: GARDP Africa | South Africa
Carol Ruffell is the director of GARDP Africa – part of the not-for-profit Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership, which works with partners to develop and access effective antibiotics for drug-resistant bacterial infections. She has had extensive executive experience in the multinational pharmaceutical industry. She holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Rhodes University, South Africa, and a Master’s degree in International Public Health from the University of Liverpool.
Marina JoubertSpeaker | Stellenbosch University | South Africa
Marina Joubert is an associate professor at the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology (CREST) at Stellenbosch University. Her work explores the dynamic relationship between science and society, focusing on the diverse factors and actors that shape public conversations about science. She serves as deputy editor of the Journal of Science Communication (JCOM), and is an honorary lifetime member of the global (Public Communication of Science and Technology (PCST) Network.
Mia MalanSpeaker | Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism | South Africa
Mia Malan is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Bhekisisa Centre for Health Journalism. She has worked in newsrooms in Johannesburg, Nairobi, and Washington, DC, winning more than 30 awards for her radio, print, and television work.
Munyaradzi MakoniSpeaker | Africa CDC | Zimbabwe
Munyaradzi Makoni is an award-winning science journalist whose reporting spans agriculture, climate change, the environment, marine sciences, health, and higher education. Leading international outlets have published his work. He was a 2012 fellow of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and Research Africa and has participated in the prestigious journalist-in-residence programme of the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp (ITM). In 2019, he won the Best Feature Award from the African Academy of Sciences Science Journalism Awards. He now serves as a science communicator at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), where he continues to share science-driven stories about Africa worldwide.
Subhra PriyadarshiniSpeaker | Nature India | India
Subhra Priyadarshini is a science journalist with close to 30 years’ experience and the founding editor of Nature India. A Chevening and Bosch fellow, she has reported for leading Indian and international media. She is a Board Director of the World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) and the founding President of the Science Journalists Association of India.
Werner BreedtSpeaker | health advocate | South Africa
Werner Breedt is an extraordinary lecturer in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Pretoria (UP). He is a researcher and advocate for non-ordinary states of consciousness, including music, media, psychosis, schizophrenia and psychedelics. He serves as a communications expert in the developing field of Pharmacogenomics, and supports the Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) working group at UP through academic and multimedia activation.