Scope and applicability of social-ecological resilience to antimicrobial resistance

Wernli D 1 , Søgaard Jørgensen P 2 , Parmley EJ 3 , Majowicz SE 4 , Lambraki I 4 , Carson CA 5 Show all authors , Cousins M 4 , Graells T 2 , Henriksson PJG 6 , Léger A 7 , Harbarth S 8 , Troell M 9

Affiliations 

  • 1 Global Studies Institute, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. Electronic address: didier.wernli@unige.ch
  • 2 Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
  • 3 Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
  • 4 School of Public Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
  • 5 Centre for Food-borne, Environmental Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases, Public Health Agency of Canada, Guelph, ON, Canada
  • 6 Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden; Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; WorldFish, Jalan Batu Maung, Penang, Malaysia
  • 7 Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, Bern, Switzerland
  • 8 Infection Control Program and WHO Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 9 Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Lancet Planet Health, 2023 Jul;7(7):e630-e637.
PMID: 37438004 DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(23)00128-6

Abstract

Social-ecological systems conceptualise how social human systems and ecological natural systems are intertwined. In this Personal View, we define the scope and applicability of social-ecological resilience to antimicrobial resistance. Resilience to antimicrobial resistance corresponds to the capacity to maintain the societal benefits of antimicrobial use and One Health systems' performance in the face of the evolutionary behaviour of microorganisms in response to antimicrobial use. Social-ecological resilience provides an appropriate framework to make sense of the disruptive impacts resulting from the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance; capture the diversity of strategies needed to tackle antimicrobial resistance and to live with it; understand the conditions that underpin the success or failure of interventions; and appreciate the need for adaptive and coevolutionary governance. Overall, resilience thinking is essential to improve understanding of how human societies dynamically can cope with, adapt, and transform to the growing global challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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