Identifying drivers for the emergence and transmission of key human pathogens and AMR in Vietnam and the Philippines (AMR-VP)

Southeast Asia (SEA) remains particularly vulnerable to new and emerging disease threats due to poor infection control, unregulated antibiotic use, inadequate water sanitation, high population density and rapid urbanization. Sequencing technologies have transformed our understanding of infectious diseases and pathogen evolution, including the transmission of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of frontier science efforts to analyse microbe diversity and its potential impacts on human health including the value of genomics-based approaches in tracking and tracing not only the presence of the virus but also its movement, enabling identification of where (and often how) new strains emerged. This enables resources to be targeted to ‘hotspots’ of emergence and ‘nodes’ of spread. It is of paramount importance that the knowledge and experience built during the pandemic are now consolidated and built on for other microbes with epidemic potential across One Health (OH) dimensions, i.e. in the food chain – in particular, multi-drug resistant bacteria, such as Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp. and Helicobacter pylori that have been prioritised in Vietnam and Philippines due to their ability to rapidly spread within environmental and human-animal interface or develop resistance to multiple antibiotics.
Translating OH research priorities into action for human health is essential for the creation of evidence-based policies and programs for the prevention and control of infectious diseases and other health threats, and thus is an important component of a robust national capacity to effectively prevent, control, and mitigate biological incidents. Following, one of the most pivotal technical domains within an OH framework is understanding the emergence and evolution of key pathogens and AMR and one of the most pivotal research priorities that need to be translated into action for human...