AMR and Conflict: National security amid rising tide of drug-resistant infections – lessons from Ukraine

Date: Tuesday, 1st April 2025
Time: 9:15am to 10:15am

AMR is a significant but often overlooked consequence of armed conflicts. In Ukraine, hospitals treating war injuries have recorded an alarming increase in AMR cases, with over 80% of admitted patients at Feofaniya Hospital infected with antibiotic resistant microbes. This is causing a major challenge in treating wounded soldiers and getting them back to the frontline.

We have also seen how these infections have spread outside of Ukraine. In Germany, infections of conflict-wounds from Ukraine have been identified as so resistant that patients have been left with no viable antibiotic treatment remaining. With the UK “ready and willing” to deploy peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, the risk to the NHS is heightened.

We are hosting this meeting to support the AMR APPG in influencing the Government’s review and consolidation of national security and defence strategies. The aim at the end of the discussion is to have a list of recommendations to put forward to Government. 

We are delighted to be joined by the following speakers:

• Dr Olena Moshynets PhD, a Senior Research Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, who is taking the lead in the fight against AMR in Ukraine (joining remotely).
• Dr Luke Moore, an Infectious Diseases Physician and Clinical Microbiologist at the Chelsea and Westminster NHS Foundation Trust who has special interests in critical care infections, antimicrobial resistance, and healthcare systems.
• Dr Scott Pallett, a senior medical microbiology and infectious diseases registrar with an academic interest in the threat of AMR, particularly in areas of conflict and catastrophe.

Please contact Rhian Foley at rfoley@bsac.org.uk for more information about this meeting.