Dear Colleagues and Partners,
As we close out the year, I want to thank you for your continued collaboration, support, and engagement. Even as we navigate an alarming abandonment of global solidarity that threatens millions of lives worldwide, the Global Strategy Lab (GSL) remains steadfast in advancing equitable, sustainable, and evidence-informed research to make the world a healthier place for all. I am proud to share a few highlights from an exceptional year of work across our teams.
In January, GSL convened social scientists at the Wellcome Trust to discuss how social sciences can strengthen and catalyze more effective policy action against antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This gathering informed a recent WHO Bulletin Perspective article, which highlights how understanding socio-ecological dynamics, antimicrobials as infrastructure, and collective action problems can strengthen the upcoming revision of the Global Action Plan on AMR in 2026.
The team also made contributions to informing the design and function of the Independent Panel on Evidence for Action against AMR (IPEA). Through a review of science–policy interfaces, the team identified key design principles to support IPEA’s credibility, inclusiveness, and policy relevance, and outlined how the scientific community can be engaged to help prioritize IPEA’s work program. These findings were shared through publications, policy briefs, and international consultations informing the Quadripartite’s draft IPEA founding documents.
Our Smart Choice Process (SCP) achieved remarkable growth and impact this year, providing countries with support to systematically prioritize AMR interventions and identify context-specific implementation considerations to advance the development of their National Action Plans (NAPs) on AMR. Delivery in Uganda, Malawi, Zambia, and Kenya was made possible through the Fleming Fund’s Antimicrobial Resistance and One Health East and Southern Africa (AMROH) grant, delivered in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute.
We also deepened our commitment to integrating gender into global health policy. In partnership with the World Health Organization, we developed a guidance document of 20 evidence-informed recommendations to support countries in making their AMR national action plans more gender-responsive. Our team is also building an open-access, gender-disaggregated global cigarette consumption database to support more equitable and gender-sensitive tobacco control interventions.
I am proud of a remarkable year marked by innovation and research, and none of this would be possible without our incredible team. The GSL team is made up of bright, compassionate, and driven colleagues who truly believe in making this world a healthier place for all. We are so grateful to collaborate with partners who share these values in these times of uncertainty. Thank you from all of us at the Global Strategy Lab.
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