By Letícia Britto Costa, CAMO-Net Brazil In December 2024, I had the privilege of receiving a travel grant from the CAMO-Net project to participate in two major events in Cape Town, South Africa: the 20th International Congress of Infectious Diseases (ICID) and the CAMO-Net meeting. These ten days were an incredible journey of learning, collaboration, and cultural exchange. Here are some of the highlights.

By Agata do Espirito Santo Soares, CAMO-Net Timor-Leste In December 2024, infectious disease experts from around the world gathered in South Africa for the International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ISID) and the CAMO-Net Meeting. These events brought together over 2,500 participants to address one of the most pressing global health challenges: antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Why These Meetings MatterAMR is a growing threat, fueled by factors such as climate change, poverty, and limited access to medicines.

By Elizabeth Nakazibwe, CAMO-Net Uganda Earlier this year, I had the privilege of participating in a month-long offsite placement through CAMO-Net, a key capacity-building initiative. Hosted by the University of Liverpool and Imperial College London, this opportunity was nothing short of incredible! My placement focused on enhancing my skills in project management, and I was fortunate to learn from the best.

By Esha Sheth, CAMO-Net UK As a research assistant at the University of Liverpool, my role primarily involves assisting with protocol development, obtaining ethics approvals for non-CTIMP (Clinical Trial of Investigational Medicinal Product) research studies and public engagement. With a Master’s in Medical Microbiology under my belt and plans to pursue a PhD, attending the International Congress on Infectious Diseases (ICID) in Cape Town was an invaluable experience.

Guest article by Professor Nusrat Shafiq, CAMO-Net India Co-Lead As we mark World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (WAAW) 2025 - guided by the global theme “Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future” - we reflect on the growing momentum behind efforts to address antimicrobial resistance across national, regional, and local levels in India. Since India’s National Action Plan on AMR (

This World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), we’re celebrating the CAMO-Net Fellows - a talented group of early-career researchers funded by CAMO-Net to complete a fellowship and contribute towards the global efforts to make antimicrobial use smarter, safer and more effective. The Fellows are contributing to an extraordinary range of projects, including rapid diagnostics, genomics, pharmacokinetics, behaviour change, stewardship systems and laboratory capacity strengthening.

As part of our WAAW 2025 events, CAMO-Net brought together participants from across its global network – along with members of the public – for a community dialogue event. The session was designed to create space for open discussion on antimicrobial use and resistance, and to highlight the shared responsibility involved in addressing these issues. With colleagues joining from South Africa, Brazil, Uganda, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and the UK, the event reflected the network’s focus on collaboration across different contexts and health systems.

Guest article by Dr Andrew Kambugu, CAMO-Net Uganda Lead Over the past five years, Uganda has made significant progress in responding to the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The country’s first National Action Plan on AMR (NAP-AMR I, 2018-2023) provided a solid foundation for coordination across human, animal, and environmental sectors. It marked Uganda’s formal commitment to the One Health approach, recognising that resistant pathogens move freely between people, animals, and the environment.

CAMO-Net Pakistan recently hosted a symposium to highlight their work in addressing antimicrobial resistance AMR ahead of this year’s World AMR Awareness Week at Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi. The symposium brought together healthcare practitioners, microbiologists, and infectious disease experts to share experiences and explore strategies to address the growing global threat of AMR. Titled “Preserving Antimicrobials: Educate, Advocate, Act Against AMR”, the event gave particular attention to the challenges faced in low-resource settings.

A new Nature Communications paper from the Centres for Antimicrobial Optimisation Network (CAMO-Net) calls for global collaboration to connect fragmented antimicrobial data and accelerate progress against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The publication, titled “There is urgent need for a Global Data Resource for Antimicrobial PK/PD: CAMO-Net GDR Initiative”, sets out an ambitious plan to create a Global Data Resource (GDR) - a secure, standardised platform for antimicrobial pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) data.

On 17 October 2025, the CAMO-Net Uganda Hub participated in the 6th Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI) Science Fair, held at the School of Public Health, Mulago National Referral Hospital. Organised by IDI in partnership with Makerere University’s School of Public Health, the event brought together researchers, students, and policymakers to share insights and strengthen collaboration in public health and infectious disease research.

By Sandra Naluyima, CAMO-Net Uganda As part of my offsite CAMONET placement, I had the incredible opportunity to train at two prestigious UK institutions Imperial College London and the University of Liverpool. This placement not only strengthened my technical expertise but also gave me a memorable and transformative personal and professional experience abroad. Training at Imperial College London: LC-MS Method Development…

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to pose an urgent global health challenge, making cross-border collaboration and knowledge exchange more important than ever. With support from CAMO-Net and the Wellcome Trust, I had the opportunity to attend both the CAMO-Net cross-site meeting and the International Conference on Infectious Diseases (ICID2024) in South Africa, an experience made possible through the CAMO-Net travel grant. These gatherings brought together professionals from around the world who are committed to strengthening antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) through culturally informed, evidence-based strategies.

I recently had the opportunity to spend a month at the University of Liverpool, refining the blueprint for the CAMO-Net Global Data Resource (GDR). My mission was to refine the requirements needed for building a platform that can securely manage pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) and clinical data from diverse global hubs, including Uganda, India, and the UK whilst learning from existing TREs. Although I arrived with ambitious architectural plans, I soon discovered how face-to-face discussions, legal reviews, and hands-on technical sessions could breathe life into what might otherwise remain abstract diagrams.

Nazareno Scaccia, a postdoctoral fellow at the Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, had the honor of receiving the CAMO-Net Travel Grant to attend ESCMID Global 2025, the 35th Congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, held in Vienna, Austria, from April 11–15, 2025. During the event, he presented the poster entitled “Presence of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and antibiotic residues in urban surface water”,

Researchers from the Centres for Antimicrobial Optimisation Network (CAMO-Net) have played a leading role in two papers published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases as part of a three-part Series exploring the transformative potential of artificial intelligence (AI) in tackling infectious diseases. The Series, launched this week, examines how AI can support infectious disease prevention and management across clinical care, diagnostics, outbreak detection, infection control, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Recently, stakeholders from across Uganda’s public health sector came together for the AMR Public Health Awareness Pillar Stakeholders’ Engagement Meeting, hosted by the Ministry of Health in partnership with the Makerere University School of Public Health. The meeting created a space to reflect on progress, share ideas, and strengthen collaboration on how best to communicate antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to communities and influence behaviour change at every level.

CAMO-Net Uganda recently marked an important milestone with the launch of a new antimicrobial stewardship interventional study at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Uganda. The project, led by CAMO-Net Fellow Dr Fiona Mutesi Magololo, is the first of its kind to apply a Quality Improvement (QI) approach to support rational antibiotic use on the hospital’s adult surgical wards. The study builds directly on Uganda’s…

On 2 September 2025, the CAMO-Net South Africa Hub brought together leaders in research, policy, and practice for the second Global Health Indaba, held as part of the WHX conference in Cape Town. Led by Professors Salome Maswime, Sipho Dlamini, and Esmita Charani, the Indaba explored this year’s theme: African Solutions for Global Impact. An Indaba is a Southern African term (from Zulu and Xhosa) that means a gathering, meeting, or discussion - usually one that brings people together to exchange ideas, share concerns, and make decisions.

Over the past five weeks, the CAMO-Net Uganda team has visited Mbarara, Soroti, Mbale, Gulu, Jinja, Arua, Lira, Kabale and Masaka Regional Referral Hospitals to share findings from studies on antibiotic use trends and the economic burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The data, collected from these very hospitals, was returned to the health workers whose daily decisions influence antibiotic use, creating space for dialogue and reflection on emerging resistance patterns across the country.

Located in the heart of Kampala, Katanga is one of the city’s largest informal settlements, stretching approximately 1.5 kilometres. Katanga is bordered by Mulago Hospital, Uganda’s largest referral hospital, and Makerere University, the country’s oldest and most prestigious institution of higher learning. Despite being surrounded by centres of education and healthcare, Katanga faces serious challenges, especially when it comes to health access and education.

CAMO-Net Timor-Leste has launched the first phase of a project to introduce Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) for key antibiotics. The initiative is being delivered by the Menzies School of Health Research in partnership with Universidade da Paz (UNPAZ). This important milestone marks a step forward in supporting the responsible use of antibiotics and strengthening antimicrobial stewardship across the country. The initiative is being delivered in close collaboration with five referral hospitals - including Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares (HNGV), HOREX Baucau, RAEOA Referral Hospital, and referral hospitals in Maubisse, Maliana and Suai.

Two CAMO-Net researchers based in South Africa - Professor Natalie Schellack and Dr Dena van den Bergh - have been celebrated in a new editorial spotlighting the global leadership of women in antimicrobial stewardship and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The article, Women trailblazers shaping the global future of antimicrobial stewardship and antimicrobial resistance, was published in the journal Expert Review of Anti-infective Therapy.

The CAMO-Net Uganda Hub has trained its first group of 62 community health workers to support antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) efforts at the grassroots level. These Village Health Team (VHT) members are now better equipped to raise awareness about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), educate households, and contribute to data collection on medicine use. This milestone marks the beginning of a phased engagement strategy that places VHTs at the heart of Uganda’s community-led response to AMR.