Steven Hoffman and Susan Rodgers Van Katwyk co-published an editorial in the WHO Bulletin discussing the inclusion of social scientists in AMR research with 10 of our INAMRSS colleagues. In the article, the authors argue that AMR is not merely a medical problem but a social one as well which requires input from social scientists.

The study investigated whether the 2011 establishment of health technology assessment agency CONITEC succeeded in encouraging judicial deference and to see if the existence of a CONITEC report resulted in less frequent court orders to provide treatment for individual litigants.

In the commentary, the authors found that as was the case with COVID-19, the world is similarly unprepared to respond to AMR and the challenges it will produce but that the pandemic presents an opportunity to examine how we might better respond to the growing threat.

24 researchers from around the world published a study investigating the central challenges to an international AMR policy in BMJ Global Health. GSL Director Steven Hoffman and GSL Investigator Susan Rogers Van Katwyk were co-authors on this effort.

Fafard, Wilson, Cassola and Hoffman conclude that messaging across jurisdictions was generally consistent, and variations in the tone and timing of CMOH messaging aligned with different and changing realities across contexts.

Immune Nations is a collaborative and interdisciplinary initiative that brought together a team of artists, academics, and healthcare professionals in order to explore the complex issues related to the use and distribution of vaccines in the world today.

In the article, the authors highlight that border closures are a way for governments to deflect and avoid blame. Border closures have not shown to have any significant epidemiological impacts and therefore are according to Hoffman and Fafard rather imposing political symbols.

The article discusses how global health is local health, meaning that global health developments shape local physicians. Watch lead author Ranjana Nagi explain the article’s background and findings in a video.

In the commentary, Fafard and Cassola investigate why the two disciplines who would appear to be natural partners, typically work in parallel rather than in partnership, resulting in missed opportunities for productive collaboration.

Steven Hoffman argues that well-resourced public health systems and research are the best tools for informing decisions and ensuring effective pandemic responses.