FOR their 1HEALTH project, two researchers from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños won the best poster presentation in the 2023 Philippine Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week.

Dr. Yusuf A. Sucol and Hannah Agatha Millares bested 38 other posters exhibited by the Inter-Agency Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance member agencies such as DOH, DA, DOST, DILG, DENR, DTI, TESDA, CHED, DepEd, and participating higher education institutions.

They presented a research paper titled, “AMR and One Health: An Analysis of the Philippines’ Current Actions to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance.”

“Their study analyzed the current Philippine government’s progress and directions to manage AMR as laid out in the Philippine National Action Plan to Combat Antimicrobial Resistance (PNAP-AMR) 2019-2023 and to provide insights into the adoption of the One Health approach in AMR interventions,” UPLB said.

“The study employed the 2018 UN Food and Agriculture Antimicrobial Resistance Policy Review and Development Framework after a systematic scoping and inventory of AMR policies, plans, and literature. This included a comprehensive policy review, timeline analysis, and institutional and stakeholders’ SWOT analysis,” it added.

The paper was co-authored by the 1HEALTH Project – AMR Component team under the School of Environmental Science and Management—Dr. Alma Lorelei DJ. Abejero, Catherine Gigantone, Idel Angelie Malate, and dean of SESAM Dr. Rico Ancog.

Hosted by the ICAMR, and chaired by the DOH, the conference was themed “Sama-samang Magtulungan para Antimicrobial Resistance ay Mapigilan.”

It was held in solidarity with World Antimicrobial Resistance Week 2023, a global campaign that aims “to raise awareness and understanding of AMR and promote best practices among One Health stakeholders to reduce the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.”