Engagement and Advocacy
Founded in 2020 by Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Trinity Challenge is leading on a number of live projects that aim to mitigate antibiotic resistance through research, awareness raising and catalysing action
The Trinity Challenge on Antimicrobial Resistance
The Trinity Challenge for Antimicrobial Resistance launched as a funding competition in 2023. The competition called for submissions for solutions which would address significant data gaps in communities and low- and middle-income countries that are disproportionately affected by antibiotic-resistant infections.
There were 285 applications from innovators in 57 countries.
The Trinity Challenge has now awarded £2.7 million to four winners in Vietnam, India and South Africa.
The winner of the grand prize of £1 million is Farm2Vet: Combatting AMR on the Farm Frontier. Farm2Vet, based in Vietnam, aims to create a new platform that will encourage responsible antibiotic use in food-producing animals by offering farmers instant, low-cost access to trusted veterinary services for disease diagnosis and treatment advice. As well as directly supporting farmers, the data gathered by the platform will inform policymakers by identifying hotspots of antibiotic resistance and allowing action to be taken to prevent outbreaks.
The winners of the joint second prize, each receiving £600,000, are AMRSense: Empowering Communities with a Proactive One Health Ecosystem and OASIS: OneHealth Antimicrobial Stewardship for Informal Health Systems. Both projects are based in India and aim to empower community health workers and informal caregivers with new technologies to gather data on AMR at the community level.
The winner of the third prize of £500,000 is AMRoots: Grassroots AMR in small scale farming communities. Based in South Africa, AMRoots will generate new data on the development and transmission of antibiotic resistance in livestock farming communities that are critical for the future food security of sub-Saharan Africa.
All winners of the Trinity Challenge on Antimicrobial Resistance will also receive ongoing post-award innovation and scaling support as they implement their solutions.
Deliberative Polling on Antimicrobial Resistance with Stanford University
The Trinity Challenge and the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University are undertaking a Deliberative Polling initiative to uncover public perspectives on antibiotic resistance across the world.
The initial pilot study engaged 2,550 participants from representative samples of the public in six low- and middle-income countries: Brazil and Colombia; Nigeria and Tanzania; and India and Indonesia. The samples were polled before and after they deliberated about the policy trade-offs posed by antibiotic resistance. Participants met in moderated small groups and posed questions to panels of competing experts. At the end of the process, they expressed their considered judgments about what needs to be done in confidential questionnaires.
Participants considered trade-offs such as prioritising the use of antibiotics in food production systems versus a higher price for antibiotic-free meat, how antibiotics should be accessed by humans in farming/agriculture, and which policy interventions should be prioritised for the greatest public benefit.
Deliberative Polling® is a methodology developed by Professor James Fishkin of the Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab. It has been applied in 150 cases around the world. It gathers insights not only about what the public already thinks but on what it would think about a given issue after engaging in depth with competing arguments and expert opinions about what should be done.
Youth Voice: Reflecting on the Trinity Challenge Youth Summit
The Trinity Challenge is proud to have delivered our first ever Youth Summit on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). The summit brought together young leaders and youth-led organisations working in AMR and related spaces. The aim of the summit was to strengthen the global network of organisations working in this area, to find new ways to drive meaningful change and to co-design a global awareness campaign to be delivered in the coming months.
Highlights of the summit included:
- Interactive workshops: facilitated dialogue and knowledge exchange among participants, co-organised with our partners Black Sands.
- Keynote speeches and training: introduction speech from our Founder and Chair, Dame Sally Davies, plus insights from experts on AMR and patient advocates. Black Sands also delivered a Campaigning 101 session to help participants focus their discussions and campaign ideas.
- Global campaign: co-designed by youth and expert campaigners to raise awareness about the antibiotic crisis.
The Winning campaign topic, as voted for by participants of the Youth Summit, was WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and Schools. Following the summit we opened a campaign competition, 97 teams entered their ideas, representing 6 regions globally.
The Trinity Challenge Youth Summit Competition
Competition Update
Our Youth Summit competition has now closed, and we have entered the judging phase. If you have applied, keep an eye out for updates on the decisions of our independent judging panel.
Multiple teams from around the world will be granted up to £7,500 in seed funding to adapt, plan, and deliver the campaign in their region. Our aim is to support youth voices globally by selecting winners in different regions. Seed funding will be awarded subject to contract and due diligence.
Winners will be invited to an online winners’ event in September to share their campaign plan, speak with experts, and access additional support to deliver the campaign.
The winning campaigns should launch or deliver key activities during the World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) activities in November 2024.
Resources and Ongoing Engagement
We are happy to recommend a range of resources created through consultation with young people by ReAct and the World Health Organisation. We continue to encourage ongoing participation in AMR-related projects.
Here you can find:
Statements/Manifestos
- WHO Youth Manifesto for UN General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance
- African Youth Position Statement on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) – coordinated by ReAct
Toolkits
- ReAct Campaign Toolkit – material for the global campaign From People to Leaders: Act on AMR NOW!
- WHO AMR Educational Toolkit
Youth Summit Recordings
Contact
For more information on the summit outcomes, resources, or to ask questions, feel free to contact Jennie Smith: [email protected]
Raising awareness on AMR and cancer with the Union for International Cancer Control
There has been substantial progress in cancer care in the past decades, with key advances in surgery, radiotherapy, and medicines including immunotherapies. But the increasing inability of medicines to address certain infections can undermine all efforts to treat patients.
We are proud to have supported UICC to deliver this awareness drive on the need to preserve the power of antimicrobials in order to protect cancer treatment and care.
Funding members
Wellcome
Anchor funding for the Trinity Challenge on Antimicrobial Resistance has been generously provided by Wellcome
Ineos Oxford Institute for Antimicrobial Research
Institute of Philanthropy empowered by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust
MSD
Patrick J McGovern Foundation
Members
Amazon Web Services
Black Sands
British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
Brunswick
Clinton Health Access Initiative
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
Imperial College London
Indian Council of Medical Research
Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation
McKinsey Health Institute
Meta
Shionogi & Co., Ltd.
South African Medical Research Council
Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
Zoetis