DRUM

Much remains unknown about how antibiotic resistance spreads globally, which is particularly true in sub-Saharan Africa, where diagnostic laboratories are not commonly available. DRUM will work collaboratively within Uganda and Malawi to identify and understand the key drivers of resistance.

The DRUM Consortium will address how human behaviour and antibacterial usage in the home, around animals, and in the wider environment in urban and rural areas of Uganda and Malawi contributes to the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

DRUM seeks to develop agent-based models that will enable the prediction of how these transmission pathways can be interrupted. DRUM’s vision is to establish Ugandan and Malawian sites as sustainable model settings for interdisciplinary study and mitigation of AMR by embedding a One Health strategy at the heart of a consortium that will generate outputs applicable to similar communities throughout East and Southern Africa and beyond.

The DRUM Consortium consists of researchers from:

• African Institute for Development Policy
• Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
• Institute of Infectious Diseases (IDI)
• Lancaster University
• Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
• London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
• Makerere University
• Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Centre
• University of Liverpool
• University of Strathclyde
• Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

This £3 million research award is jointly funded by the cross-research council AMR initiative and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Programme.