Global antimicrobial resistance webinar series

From Wednesday 5 June to Friday 12 July, the International team delivered a weekly global antimicrobial resistance webinar series.

Each week from June to July, we explored an aspect of antimicrobial resistance and stewardship with speakers from around the world. Each webinar started with a speaker providing an introduction and a UK perspective to the topic, followed by 2–4 international speakers providing the perspective from their respective countries. After this there was an audience Q&A.

Programme

The webinars explored the following topics:

• Global Perspectives on Antimicrobial Resistance, with speakers from Australia, Kenya and Qatar. Some of the topics discussed were the use of intravenous versus oral antibiotics and persistence of resistance to certain antibiotics, despite the removal of selective pressure through reduction in consumption.
• Antimicrobial Stewardship in the Community, with speakers from Nigeria and Sri Lanka. We discussed the challenges of antimicrobial stewardship in the community and considered the use of the World Health Organization’s AWaRe classification.
• Antimicrobial Stewardship in Secondary Care, with speakers from Cuba, India, Nigeria and Qatar. The topics discussed included how to influence the choice of antibiotics and case studies on antimicrobial stewardship in palliative secondary hospice care.
• Engaging the Public in Antimicrobial Stewardship, with speakers from Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. We heard about various activities in different parts of the world designed to help inform the public.
• Developing Prescribing Guidelines, with speakers from Egypt and India. We discussed how to develop the skills to write guidelines and policies, and considered ways to help ensure their implementation.
• Evaluating an Antimicrobial Stewardship Programme: What Are the Measures of Success, with speakers from Canada, Egypt and Hong Kong. Speakers outlined possible metrics that can be used to demonstrate the impact of an antimicrobial stewardship programme.

Attendees

Attendees joined from around the world, with nearly 600 joining many of the webinars in the series.

Attendees came from over 30 countries, including Algeria, Australia, Barbados, Canada, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iraq, Ireland, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Malta, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and the UK.

The feedback from the webinars was overwhelmingly positive, with the vast majority of attendees reporting that they found the webinars extremely useful. Comments indicated that the global perspectives and range of speakers from many countries were particularly valued. Receiving this feedback highlights the importance of international collaboration and the international activities we deliver, which help to advance knowledge in pathology practice.

Recordings

Special thanks

Special thanks go to Professor Angharad Davies, Clinical Director for Publishing and Engagement, for supporting this programme, moderating the webinars and coordinating each Q&A session. Thanks also go to all the expert speakers, who provided such informative insight into antimicrobial resistance and stewardship in each of their respective countries and to all the attendees who joined the webinars and took part in the Q&A sessions.

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