The Trinity Challenge today announced eight finalists in its competition aimed at tackling the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The projects in Fiji, India, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Vietnam are advancing with data-driven solutions to mitigate the impact of antibiotic-resistant infections, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.

The eight finalists, selected by a panel of judges from 20 organisations across the world, have proposed a range of bold ideas to fill critical gaps in our understanding of AMR. They were shortlisted from 285 applications from 57 countries.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chair, the Trinity Challenge and UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance, said: “It is inspiring to see a range of ideas from across the world, from generating new data, to providing novel technologies that empower workers and industries to protect the power of antibiotics. This is the kind of innovation we urgently need to turn the tide on AMR.”

The winners of the up to £1 million prize and of runner-up prize funds will be announced at an awards ceremony on 6 June 2023. The virtual ceremony will feature contributions from guest speakers and opportunities to network with Trinity Challenge Member organisations. To attend the awards ceremony, please register for the event here.

Professor Marc Mendelson, Director, the Trinity Challenge, said: “Our call was for solutions that would find novel data or novel data uses, to help fill our knowledge gap about antibiotic resistance in community settings in low- and middle-income countries across the One Health spectrum. The range of submissions we received has delivered on that and we are looking forward to working with the winners to bring their plans to life and make an impact in addressing antibiotic resistance.”

About Antimicrobial Resistance

It has been predicted that by 2050 antimicrobial resistance will result in 10 million additional deaths a year if strategies are not implemented now to prevent antibiotic resistance. The speed at which antibiotic resistance is growing is a direct response to misuse and overuse of antibiotics across our healthcare systems and the food industry. The situation with respect to antibiotic resistance in bacteria has developed to the point that it now threatens our health, food, environment and global security.

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.

Finalist profiles

Fiji

AMR in urban informal settlements of Fiji: insights for policy action

This project will capture first-of-its-kind evidence of AMR prevalence in urban informal settlements in Suva, Fiji, to fill a knowledge gap on this potentially significant reservoir of antibiotic resistance, and the effectiveness of mitigations. This evidence will help establish a national AMR facility, and provide evidence-based policy guidance toward Fiji’s National Action Plan.

India

AMRSense: Empowering Communities with a Proactive One Health Ecosystem

AMRSense is a socio-technological innovation to build a network of community health workers in two Indian states and empower these workers with AI-assisted data recording. The data will be integrated with antibiotic sales, consumption and surveillance trends which will allow for predictive analytics that can help tackle AMR.

 CHAMP: Community Health Antimicrobial Resistance Platform

CHAMP by Khushi Baby is an antimicrobial stewardship monitoring tool that guides prescriptions, monitors adherence, and educates on antibiotic use, directly at the community level, empowering health workers and improving patient outcomes against AMR.

OASIS: OneHealth Antimicrobial Stewardship for Informal Health Systems

OASIS transforms rural healthcare by enabling informal rural healthcare providers for humans and animals to monitor personal antimicrobial provision data for infections treated, via the Antibiotic Bandhu (friend of antibiotics) app. By integrating this with regional AMR data, the app will empower providers to adopt responsible antimicrobial practices.

Kenya

Community Surveillance and AI Solutions for AMR Reduction in Kenya

Living Goods and Pendulum Systems’ solution strengthens Kenya’s community-level AMR response by empowering community health workers with enhanced data collection tools to inform targeted interventions; leveraging AI-driven supply chain optimization solutions to improve antibiotics access; and partnering with government to explore the integration of AMR data solutions into government information systems.

South Africa

AMRoots: Grassroots AMR in small scale farming communities

AMRoots will generate new data towards holistic understanding of the development and transmission of antimicrobial resistance in livestock farming communities that are critical for the future food security of sub-Saharan Africa, while integrating scalable and community-led approaches to mitigating AMR in these regions.

Tanzania

SafeMeat

SafeMeat establishes a decentralised community-based surveillance network leveraging local slaughterhouses to collect and test meat samples for AMR. An AI platform integrates this crowdsourced data to identify AMR hotspots, generate risk maps, and provide timely alerts, enabling effective monitoring of the meat supply chain.

Vietnam

Farm2Vet: Combatting AMR on the Farm Frontier

Encourage responsible antibiotic use in food-producing animals by offering subsistence farmers instant, easy, low-cost access to trusted veterinary services for disease diagnosis and treatment advice via the platform. Farm2Vet acts as an effective surveillance platform by collecting data directly from small farmers and veterinary service suppliers.

 The Trinity Challenge on Antimicrobial Resistance has been made possible through funding from the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research, the Institute of Philanthropy empowered by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, the Patrick J McGovern Foundation, and Wellcome.