Disseminating scientific-based knowledge, to foster cultural and behavior changes for combatting environmental and human health impacts associated to antimicrobial resistance during and after covid-19 epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa: case of Congo DR

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is recognized as one of the greatest threats to public health, environment, food security, and is a global concern affecting anyone, of any age, in any country. This resistance leads to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays, and increased mortality worldly. Combating AMR is considered among the top priorities for global public health and it has been demonstrated recently that AMR co-infections continue to be responsible for sever clinically mortality. Therefore, the main objective of this community outreach project is to maximise the impact of our research findings on practice beyond scientific publication in sharing knowledge and our scientific evidence on the issue of antibiotic resistance, to both scientific and non-specialist audiences, raising public awareness for behavior change, educating, and providing appropriate training on antibiotic use. The communication approach will be multisectoral including end-users (public), target publics, scientists as well as political authorities. Several communication channels will be used to reach specific audiences, including interactive workshops on implementation of good practice guidelines; field and media campaigns for knowledge mobilisation; advertising materials such as posters, T-shirts, leaflets in local language for the public, electronic and popular media outlets that provide a wider audience than peer-reviewed journals. This project offers a unique opportunity not only to communicate our scientific research results to end-users (public) but also to promote strategies for sharing knowledge to combat antimicrobial resistance through communication. It will be performed within the existing collaboration between the University of Geneva (Faculty of Science, Section of Earth and Environmental Science, Forel Department), the Geneva University Hospital (HUG) and the University of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo).