Argentina’s health minister Dr Carla Vizzotti heard how Liverpool researchers are working to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) during a special visit to the city last week.
As part of a wider UK visit, Dr Vizzotti met with University of Liverpool and Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) academics at The Spine building for a morning of talks and discussion focused on Liverpool’s contribution to the national and international AMR agenda.
Dr Vizzotti, a physician and vaccines expert, was joined at the meeting by Argentina’s national AMR lead, Dr Laura Barcelona, as well as representatives from Argentina’s Ministry of Health, the British Embassy in Buenos Aires and the Argentine Embassy in the UK.
The group heard presentations about Liverpool’s work in vector control, leishmaniasis, diagnostics for AMR, the development of new antimicrobial agents, management of sepsis, One Health and Liverpool’s Pandemic Institute.
A Liverpool-led project to map the patterns and drivers of antimicrobial resistance in the Argentine beef industry was also highlighted as an example of how the UK and Argentina are working together to tackle the AMR crisis, with ideas for further potential collaborations discussed.
Professor William Hope, Dame Sally Davies Chair of AMR Research at the University of Liverpool and Director of the Centre of Excellence in Infectious Diseases Research (CEIDR), said: “It is striking how similar the problems posed by AMR are in Argentina and the UK. It is one thing to make new antimicrobials, but quite another to ensure sustainable use and equitable access at a global level. I think we all agreed that partnership and collaboration is the only way these issues can be addressed.”