Skip to content
Start of page content below the header
Event
27 August 2021

Climate impacts antimicrobial resistance: a WASH and One Health challenge

Climate change impacts access to safe water and food, as well as prevalence of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This makes access to WASH and effective medications key factors for resilience to climate impacts on AMR. These interdependencies are however not fully understood and novel solutions are urgently needed.

A cow drinking water at Itare River.

The World Water Week 2021 will be held as a full-scale digital event on 23-27 August. It will be an intensive week of learning and collaboration on the theme Building Resilience Faster. Together solutions can be developed to address climate change and other water-related challenges.

World Water Week is not just the leading annual conference on global water issues, it is also a powerful movement for change. In 2021, World Water Week focuses on the major transformations that need to take place if we are to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and slash carbon emissions.  

Within a decade, we must rethink everything from how we grow food and generate energy to how we travel and use natural resources. This will require innovation on an epic scale and collaboration between people from all over the world with many different skills and backgrounds. Since all these transformations are closely linked to water, World Water Week has an important role to play as a meeting place for collaboration and learning. 

WASH and One Health Event

On July, 27, the SIWI organises and event which will provide insights and multiple perspectives on the relation between climate change, water, and AMR. Expert keynotes will apply a climate and One Health lens to AMR and look at the role of WASH for infection prevention and reduced dependency on antibiotics, not least based on learning from the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants have the opportunity to interactively engage with experts from the different fields and jointly develop new approaches that capture these causalities in extremely complex political environments. Topics include:

  • Climate impacts on water and infectious diseases and AMR
  • WASH as a containment factor for infectious diseases and learning from COVID-19
  • One Health I: Human health in the context of water, climate and AMR
  • One Health II: Animal health in the context of water, climate and AMR
  • One Health III: Environmental health in the context of water, climate and AMR
  • Corporate responsibility facing AMR and climate change

Join the event in diving into the essence and drivers of the problem and generate holistic and inter-generational solutions that go beyond the beaten tracks and political and scientific silos.

Programme

Welcome and Introduction – Nicolai Schaaf, SIWI

AMR, Climate and One Health – Sabiha Essack, South African Research Chain on AMR, University of KvaZulu-Natal

The costs and risks of AMR water pollution – Alex Mung, World Economic Forum

Breakout session on the following themes:

  • Climate impacts on water and infectious diseases and AMR
    Sabiha Essack, South African Research Chair on AMR, University of KvaZulu-Natal
  • WASH as a risk or containment factor for infectious diseases and learning from COVID-19
    Isabel Alvarez Murillo, SIWI
  • One Health I: Human health in the context of water, climate and AMR
    Philip Mathew, ReAct
  • One Health II: Animal health in the context of water, climate and AMR
    Kristina Osbjer, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
  • One Health III: Environmental health in the context of water, climate and AMR
    Jacqueline Álvarez, UNEP (tbc)
  • Corporate responsibility facing AMR and climate change and water risks
    Maria Lettini, Investor Actions on AMR/FAIRR

Reporting back and key conclusions from the breakout sessions

Closing remarks from intergenerational angle – Erick Venant, Roll Back Antimicrobial Resistance Initiative, Tanzania

Close of session

Times

From 27 August 2021 at 13:00 to 27 August 2021 at 15:30

Venue

Online