Global Strategy Lab鈥檚 AMR Policy Accelerator announces four-year strategic plan that will focus on global governance and national policies

TORONTO, Sept. 24, 2026 鈥� In a global health environment where funding is increasingly tight, 91亚色 based (GSL) is launching a four-year for its initiative, the to drive progress against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Unveiled today by GSL Director Mathieu JP Poirier and Accelerator Managing Director, Genevi猫ve Boily-Larouche, the plan is supported by $9.6 million (拢5 million) from 鈥� a leading global health philanthropy.

鈥淭he threat of antimicrobial resistance is no less pressing today than when we launched the Accelerator in 2022, but we are determined to ensure that the recent adoption of a global scientific panel and action plan for AMR will mark a turning point in the global fight against this silent pandemic,鈥� says Poirier, also an associate professor in the Faculty of Health at 91亚色. 鈥淲e are proud that Wellcome has been with us since day one, and this renewal of funding signals the impact of our work and the significance of our strategic plan.鈥�

Started with support from Wellcome, the Accelerator catalyzes scientific research and evidence-informed policy to support governments to act on the ongoing crisis of AMR.

鈥淭here has been some important progress made against the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance in the past decade. However, many countries are still facing challenges to develop and deliver impactful, evidence-based national action plans due to the complex, multi-faceted nature of AMR.聽Global Strategy Lab's聽work plays a vital role in supporting countries, particularly in the global south, to be better equipped to tackle AMR, including mobilisation of the international evidence panel,鈥� says Jeremy Knox, head of infectious disease policy at Wellcome.

To date, projects have included research to inform , the to support implementation of national action plans on AMR and providing to over 200 AMR policymakers, international organization staff and civil society partners in 75 countries. The work has also taken on a greater emphasis on making sure gender and equity provisions are in place when considering appropriate and effective AMR policies.

"This investment is a powerful endorsement of the talent and ambition of our researchers," says Lisa Philipps, interim president and vice-chancellor of 91亚色. "Antimicrobial resistance is one of the most urgent health threats of our time, and meeting it will take strong evidence, global collaboration and a real commitment to equity. The Global Strategy Lab brings all three. 91亚色 is proud to be the home of this work, and grateful to Wellcome for backing it over the long term.鈥�

GSL announced today that from 2026-2030, the Accelerator鈥檚 work will focus on two connected priority areas:

• Strengthening AMR global governance: Working with international organizations and global partners to support policy solutions and normative guidance that are grounded in evidence, equity, accountability, and a One Health approach.     
• Championing evidence-informed national policy decisions:  Working with national and regional partners to create practical tools that help translate research and global policy guidance into context-appropriate, sustainable, and feasible national-level action

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About 91亚色

91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for meaningful life and career paths. 91亚色's Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campus in Costa Rica offers students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs, while at the Markham Campus, innovation, technology, entrepreneurship and industry collaboration are built into every program. 91亚色鈥檚 new School of Medicine, the first Canadian medical school to focus on community-based primary health-care education, will welcome its first cohort in September 2028 (subject to accreditation). 91亚色 was recently named one of Canada鈥檚 Greenest Employers for the 14th consecutive year. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

About Wellcome

Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. We support discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and we鈥檙e taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.

Contacts:

91亚色 Media Relations, media@yorku.ca

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Researchers share goals of using a One Health-approach, to save 10 million lives and aim for 100 per cent sustainable access to effective antimicrobials in new policy paper

TORONTO, September 18, 2024 鈥� Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) contributes to millions of deaths annually, a problem that only becomes more pressing and will be a focus of a United Nations high-level meeting in New 91亚色 later this month. Ahead of this key meeting, 91亚色 researchers with the (GSL) and a group of international collaborators that emphasize an all-in approach where antibiotics and other antimicrobials are available to everyone, especially those who need them the most, and millions of lives are saved.

GSL鈥檚 co-director and Faculty of Health Assistant Professor , who was a key player in drafting the proposal, says that the goals, while ambitious, are also wholly achievable.

鈥淪imilar to climate change, AMR poses a threat to human and animal health, food security and economic wellbeing globally, so tackling the problem successfully requires a One Health approach that takes all of these factors into account,鈥� says Poirier. 鈥淟ow- and middle- income countries face even greater challenges with less access to life-saving antimicrobials, fewer resources and a higher burden of AMR, and children under 5 are particularly affected.鈥�

Poirier and other GSL colleagues had also convened a meeting earlier this year in Italy with other global health and policy experts, and the resulting discussion led to the creation of the 1-10-100 goals, outlined in a in the journal Globalization and Health.

The goals look at three key areas:

• One health: The interconnections between people, animals, agrifood systems, and environment means a collaborative approach involving multiple sectors is fundamental
• 10 million lives saved: The researchers say 10 million lives could be saved by 2040 through efforts to prevent and properly treat infections while preserving antimicrobial effectiveness. This would include enhanced vaccination programs, improved water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure and improvements to infection prevention and control
• 100 per cent sustainable access: Antimicrobials must be available and affordable for all, used only when needed, and new antimicrobials must be developed for future use

Since that meeting, other goals and targets have been presented, including a 10 per cent reduction in mortality from AMR, a one-fifth reduction in inappropriate human antibiotic use, and reducing unnecessary animal antibiotic use by 30 per cent.

While AMR is the result of a natural process where bacteria, viruses and other microbes evolve to develop resistance to the drugs used to combat illness, the rapid proliferation of drug-resistant infections is a huge threat globally.

Poirier will be in New 91亚色 at the time of the UN high-level meeting on AMR Sept. 26, and says that regardless of the meeting鈥檚 outcome, it鈥檚 crucial that UN member states do not take a merely technical approach to setting targets.

鈥淭his is a historic opportunity for member states to introduce unifying goals that rally public and political support to accelerate policy action to mitigate AMR,鈥� says Poirier, also 91亚色 Research Chair in Global Health Equity. 鈥淭he stakes are huge; there鈥檚 literally millions of lives at stake. While AMR does affect some countries disproportionately, none of us are immune.鈥�  In a , Poirier further elaborates on the topic.

About 91亚色

91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91亚色鈥檚 fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario鈥檚 Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contact: Gloria Suhasini, 91亚色 Media Relations and External Communications, 647-463-4354, suhasini@yorku.ca

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New paper from Global Strategy Lab calls for antimicrobial resistance to be reframed as a sustainability issue

TORONTO, Jan 9, 2024 鈥� From a wartime spread of antimicrobial resistant disease in Ukraine, to superbugs in China causing 鈥渨hite lung鈥� pneumonia in children, 2023 brought no shortage of new evidence that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to be a pressing problem globally, and this pattern shows no sign of abating in 2024 unless a radical shift occurs. 

To truly tackle the issue of AMR, 91亚色 researchers with the Global Strategy Lab (GSL) argue it needs to be understood as a socio-ecological challenge that accepts AMR as a phenomenon stemming from natural evolutionary processes. In other words, the war on bugs can鈥檛 be won; what鈥檚 needed is a major change in how people live with it. 

鈥淔or the past hundred years, we鈥檝e tried to address AMR like a medical problem. But we haven't really made much progress in actually mitigating the deeper drivers of the issue,鈥� says, a recent 91亚色 PhD political science graduate and lead author of in the prestigious Perspectives on Politics journal. 鈥淲e argue that there's a lot of potential to make progress by instead looking at it as a problem with our relationship with the microbial world and sustainability.鈥� 

AMR stems from both the natural tendency of bacteria, viruses and fungi to evolve as well as the acceleration of that process through human interventions such as an over-reliance or misuse of antibiotics in medical settings, to the routine use of antimicrobials in the livestock industry. Global data from 2019 showed more than a million deaths a year directly related to AMR, and the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have accelerated this process.

Last year, GSL set up the AMR Policy Accelerator with $8.7 million from Wellcome Trust to deal with this urgent threat. While Weldon acknowledges that medical and technological innovation will be a crucial component in managing the issue, new antimicrobial drugs alone will not be the solution.

鈥淲hat we鈥檙e currently doing is treating the symptoms and not the causes of AMR,鈥� says Weldon, also an investigator with GSL. 鈥淲ithout addressing the underlying social relationships that drive our use, innovation would have to operate at an unsustainable speed as these microbes evolve faster than we can make new drugs.鈥�

Weldon and co-author Steven J. Hoffman, director of GSL and Dahdaleh Distinguished Chair in Global Governance & Legal Epidemiology with 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health and Osgoode Hall Law School, outline major problems with the current governance approach to AMR. They introduce five principles for designing institutions for a better ecological fit of human-microbial ecosystems to minimize drug resistance: 

1. There鈥檚 no silver bullet. Recognizing that there is no easy fit or one-fits all solution for AMR means problem-solving must always be tailored to specific ecological situations and health challenges of diverse populations.
2. Create institutions that can adapt over time. Future proofing doesn鈥檛 mean creating institutions that are strong enough to withstand change, but ones flexible enough to evolve with the changing nature of AMR and our relationship to it.
3. Diversify practices. As the best way to tackle AMR is still unknown,  diversifying practices can help us discover what works, when, and where. 
4. Create records. As practices are diversified, records need to be kept of what works to enable learning and adjustments in policy. 
5. Involve stakeholders. This involves everyone from the public at large, to government and decision makers. 

鈥淲hat we are proposing is a completely different way of looking at the issue,鈥� says Hoffman. 鈥淲e are hoping this journal article will be a foundational piece that will inspire further AMR research in this direction.鈥�

of Weldon explain the research.

GSL is hosting the live online webinar Is 鈥淐o-existing鈥� with Microbes the Key to Addressing AMR? on Feb. 1 at 9 a.m. featuring Weldon, Hoffman, and Clare Chandler from the London Tropical School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. For details and registration information,. 

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The emerging pandemic of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and challenges to addressing it have parallels with climate change, said experts at a recent online , hosted by 91亚色鈥檚 (GSL), as part of World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week.

Similar to climate change, AMR is frequently talked about as a problem where the responsibility is downloaded to individuals, but actual solutions need to be collective ones tackled at the systems level,鈥� says 91亚色 School of Global Health Professor Susan Rogers Van Katwyk, who is also the managing director of the GSL.

鈥淔or many years, I think we really thought of antimicrobial resistance as a problem that was limited to the health-care setting and so it was siloed off to be managed individually between physicians and their patients as a medical problem,鈥� says Rogers Van Katwyk. 鈥淲hat's changed recently is more of a recognition that antimicrobial resistance 鈥� has very far-reaching consequences that go beyond human health 鈥� that go into animal health, that go into agriculture, food systems, the environment.鈥�

鈥淎s Canada鈥檚 third-largest university, 91亚色 is committed to tackling the world鈥檚 most pressing issues of our time. Climate change and AMR are among those that highlight the importance of embracing a more sustainable way of living,鈥� says Rhonda Lenton, President and Vice Chancellor. 鈥淎s a mother and grandmother, I think often about the future that we are creating and the urgency of taking the necessary steps to address these global threats now. We are proud of the GSL鈥檚 work aimed at driving positive change in AMR for the benefit of all.鈥�

Timothy Jinks, head of infectious disease interventions at global health charity Wellcome Trust, who was also part of the panel, points out that the global ramifications of AMR are felt unevenly.

鈥淭he impact and consequences of Antimicrobial Resistance is felt greatest by people in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Asia.鈥�

Wellcome has granted the GSL $8.7 million for the AMR Policy Accelerator, a unique initiative that will provide vital research and services to support evidence-based policymaking and the development of effective AMR national action plans.

Rogers Van Katwyk says one thing the climate change space has done very well is using targets as a communications tool, something the AMR space could learn from.

鈥淵ou see these news articles that come out on a regular basis that assess whether the world is on track to meet those goals and if they're not, then we have an entire conversation on a regular basis about what needs to change.鈥�

GSL director Steven Hoffman, who is also a professor at 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health and Osgoode Hall Law School, moderated the panel.

鈥淎 lot of the conversation around climate change, just like a lot of the conversation and antimicrobial resistance, is often around benefits and of action and burden sharing, and mitigating causes, but also recognizing that the historical contribution to the development of a problem is not equally shared across countries,鈥� Hoffman notes.  

For decades, the overuse and misuse of antimicrobial drugs for human health, agriculture, and the environment have resulted in bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that are increasingly resistant to essential life-saving medicines. As a result, even simple infections are now more complicated 鈥� and sometimes impossible 鈥� to treat.

鈥淭he AMR policy accelerator is really designed to help governments address the policy challenges that we've been working through in this space,鈥� says Rogers Van Katwyk. 鈥淥ur platform has really been designed to help bridge the scientific evidence to that policy space.鈥�

Other participants included Raheelah Ahmad, knowledge mobilization & policy lead with the System for Enteric Disease Response, Investigation, and Coordination, and Arshnee Moodley, AMR team leader with the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya.

Ahmad says it is important not to flatten the issue.

鈥淚 can think of excellent examples in Kerala, India, at the Amrita Institute, who have excellent IT systems within their hospital, which I have not found in some parts of high-income countries,鈥� she said during the panel.

Similarly, even high-income countries have settings that are lower resourced.

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New policy accelerator aims to bridge science and politics with $8.7 million backing from Wellcome Trust

TORONTO, Nov. 22, 2022 鈥� While recent health-care attention remains on the 鈥榯riple threat鈥� of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, we cannot overlook the emerging pandemic of antimicrobial resistance 鈥� an already critical problem with the potential to become so dire that a small cut could lead to death, as without reliable antibiotics, some infections could be untreatable, say researchers from the 91亚色-based Global Strategy Lab (GSL). 

Creating solutions to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will be made possible with a unique project initiated by 91亚色鈥檚 GSL and an $8.7-million grant from , a global charitable foundation that supports science to solve urgent health challenges.

Antimicrobial drugs are increasingly falling short in their ability to tackle infectious bugs due to overuse, and this has only intensified since COVID-19 began. It has gotten to the point where we might see basic health-care standards compromised within a generation, GSL experts say. The , an ambitious initiative by GSL, will act as a critical antidote to this global threat by intersecting scientific research and evidence-based policy to urge governments to act.

鈥淚t's not one bug and one drug that we're worried about 鈥� it's the whole ecosystem,鈥� says GSL鈥檚, a leading epidemiologist who acts as managing director of the new project. 鈥淧eople around the world, and Canadians in particular, expect when they go to the doctor鈥檚 office that there's going to be a drug that's going to be able to treat their infection. We're increasingly looking at a situation where that won鈥檛 be possible unless we change course.鈥�

The Accelerator is not a typical research project. While some of its output will be academic papers, it will also provide customized research and advisory services to governments and civil-society organizations 鈥� especially in low and middle-income countries 鈥� in response to requests for evidence on AMR policy, implementation, and evaluation.

"The AMR Policy Accelerator will leverage the Global Strategy Lab鈥檚 proven track record of using evidence to advise the world鈥檚 governments. These much needed research-based solutions for policymakers will result in more equitable and effective AMR policies and action plans worldwide,鈥� says GSL director, who is also a professor at 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Health and Osgoode Hall Law School.

The initiative is led by Hoffman and Rogers Van Katwyk, with support from 91亚色 researchers,  and and University of Ottawa鈥檚. Wellcome supports discovery research into life, health and well-being, and works to take on mental health, infectious disease and climate and health, pledging to spend 拢16 billion over the next 10 years. 

The GSL team will look at AMR from its three main points of spread and how these intersect: human, animal and environmental. They will work with governments to not only give them the best research information, but also tailor solutions for local challenges, a message they are emphasizing this World Antimicrobial Awareness Week and will tackle in more detail during a panel discussion on equity and AMR happening this Thursday. 

鈥淲e know that what works in a high-income country like Canada isn't necessarily going to be what works in a low-income country that struggles to get clean water in their rural hospitals,鈥� says Rogers Van Katwyk.

The researchers say because of AMR, longer hospital stays, drug-resistant strains of pneumonia, tuberculosis and staph, untreatable gonorrhea, and infections leading to amputations are already a reality. In the next 20 to 30 years, the situation could become dire. Women would be at high risk for deadly infections when giving birth via c-section, because without reliable antibiotics, the risk of surgery leading to serious infection would be too great. 

While some experts have flagged AMR as the next potential pandemic, the researchers say it could already be described as one.

鈥淲e already know it's spreading rapidly around the world,鈥� Rogers Van Katwyk says.

 from 2019 showed more than a million deaths a year directly related to AMR. The COVID-19 pandemic seems to have accelerated this process, with research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing a 15 per cent increase in both AMR resistance and AMR-related deaths in U.S. patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic.

鈥淲ith COVID-19, with that many people in hospital 鈥� intubated and experiencing secondary bacterial infections 鈥� that鈥檚 created massive opportunities for more antimicrobial resistance to develop,鈥� Hoffman says. 鈥淚f decision-makers don鈥檛 implement sound policy based on evidence, we may be facing the next crisis without these vital treatments.鈥�

While overreliance in medical settings is a major source of AMR, it is not the only one. Animals receive the same antibiotics humans do, and while some use is responding to infectious disease, a lot is done pre-emptively or as a growth promoter, especially with livestock in industrialized food settings, the researchers say. Resistance can then develop in the animals themselves and in the environment through waste. 

Governments need to tackle all of these sources and how they interact. 

鈥淲e can't bring antibiotic use down to zero, but we can bring it down to a sustainable level where we conserve the drugs鈥� effectiveness,鈥� Rogers Van Katwyk says. 鈥淪o we can keep using antibiotics now and in the future for our kids, and we don鈥檛 lose what is ultimately an incredibly precious resource.鈥�

To register and submit questions to global experts as part of the Importance of Equity in AMR Policy Making panel happening Thursday, Nov. 24 at 10 a.m. EST/3 p.m. GMT, .

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Media Contact: Emina Gamulin, 91亚色 Media Relations, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

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