Watch AMR& Diagnostic Frontiers Event with CARB-X and FIND

The Longitude Prize joined forces with FIND and CARB-X yesterday to bring the Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) diagnostics community a virtual event: AMR& Diagnostic Frontiers: developing and increasing access to AMR diagnostics in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs).

Today – on World Engineering Day – we share the recording from the event where we heard successful LMIC diagnostic development models from experts in Morocco, India and Senegal, followed by a session on the technology pipeline with diagnostic companies and global health experts.

This World Engineering Day, we want to celebrate and highlight engineering achievements and improve public understanding of how engineering and technology are central to modern life, health and for sustainable development across the globe.

Covid-19 has highlighted the value of diagnostic technologies to global healthcare and society. For many years, innovators have been developing and refining the next generation of rapid antimicrobial resistance (AMR) diagnostic tests. The Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) study in the Lancet revealed that AMR has become a leading cause of death worldwide, with more than 1.2 million people dying as a direct result of antibiotic drug-resistant bacterial infections in 2019. At the end of 2021, The Lancet Commission on Diagnostics found that a staggering 47% of the global population have little to no access to diagnostics.

There is both a need to increase access to appropriately-designed diagnostics developed in high-income countries (HICs) for low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) and to locally develop more products in and for LMICs. To achieve commercial success and build a sustainable business, most diagnostic developers focus on tests that suit HICs, although not an issue unique to novel AMR diagnostics.

AMR& Diagnostic Frontiers brought diagnostic developers together with global health experts to discuss the manufacturing adaptation of and development of homegrown AMR diagnostics. The event included successful diagnostic stories developed locally in Morocco, India and Senegal.  Please see the full list of speakers and panelists below.

Also on this topic, check out the Longitude Prize guide How to make AMR diagnostics globally applicable in LMIC settings for diagnostic developers.