20 February 2025
Innovators gather in Bengaluru to find ways to ensure access to effective antibiotics
The Trinity Challenge and the One Health Trust delivered a workshop today in Bengaluru to explore community access to effective antibiotics. The workshop convened healthcare leaders, researchers, tech specialists, and other experts to explore two barriers to access to effective antibiotics: stock control and substandard or falsified oral antibiotics. These issues impact both human and animal health.
The workshop included talks from experts on the challenges of stock control on local and national levels, and potential ways to identify substandard and falsified medicines. Delegates then designed and tested ideas for solutions, presenting their prototypes.
Prof. Marc Mendelson, Director, the Trinity Challenge, said, “It is always illuminating and exciting to work with colleagues in India; a country with some of the greatest health expertise and innovation working to tackle the world’s highest rates of antibiotic-resistant infections. Today’s workshop was a dynamic step in addressing the problems which prevent communities having access to the appropriate, effective antibiotics.”
Prof. Ramanan Laxminarayan, Founder and President, the One Health Trust, said, “The workshop has been a powerful reminder that solving complex problems in global health requires a diverse cohort of skills and expertise. The ideas generated by our multi-disciplinary groups of delegates in only a short time show us that we need lateral, creative thinking to drive change on antimicrobial resistance.”
Access to assured-quality antibiotics remains a pressing issue, with substandard or falsified antibiotics accounting for an estimated 10% of human antibiotic consumption in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Improved stock control can also ensure antibiotics reach those who need them the most; of the 7.75 million people who die of bacterial sepsis each year, almost 3 million have infections that could have been treated with commonly-used, oral antibiotics such as penicillin and amoxicillin, which are generally low cost, less likely to drive antibiotic resistance in bacteria, and should be widely available. Children under five years of age in LMICs are especially affected.
The Bengaluru workshop aligned with the launch yesterday of the Trinity Challenge on Community Access to Effective Antibiotics, a new global innovation competition. The charity is calling for data-driven solutions and has a prize fund of up to £1 million.
About The Trinity Challenge
The Trinity Challenge (TTC) is a charity supporting the creation of data-driven solutions to help protect against global health threats. We believe data and analytics hold the key to building effective, affordable, and scalable solutions to current and future pandemics and health emergencies, and we are committed to working with governments, individuals and organisations across the world, to help improve our resilience against current and future threats to global health.
The Trinity Challenge was launched in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, which highlighted a global need to be better prepared to tackle healthcare emergencies. The inaugural 2021 Challenge on pandemic preparedness received applications from 340 teams across 60 countries and distributed a prize fund of £5.7 million across eight winning initiatives.
In 2024, the second Trinity Challenge awarded a total of £2.7 million across four winning teams for its competition on tackling the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The work of the Trinity Challenge has been made possible through the support of our Members.
About the One Health Trust
The One Health Trust (OHT), uses research and stakeholder engagement to improve the health and well-being of our planet and its inhabitants. For more than a decade, OHT researchers have conducted vitally important work on major global health challenges, including Covid-19, antimicrobial resistance, hospital infections, tuberculosis, malaria, pandemic preparedness and response, vaccines, medical oxygen shortages, and noncommunicable diseases. OHT’s mandate includes issues related to climate change, biodiversity protection, and the effect of changing human diets on the planet.
