Youth Against Antimicrobial Resistance (YAAR!)

Commissioned by:

The Wellcome Education team

In partnership with:

Drug-Resistant Infections team
Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in Thailand
KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KEMRI) in Kenya

The project aimed to bring together young people and experts from four countries in the Global South, including Thailand, Nepal, Kenya and Vietnam to develop a framework for learning about antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Throughout the project, young people, working in Youth Advisory Boards and Youth Working Groups at each site, conducted youth-led research into knowledge and awareness of AMR amongst other young people, identified age-appropriate messages, and contributed to designing a progressive learning framework.

The framework is a valuable resource for educators, youth leaders, and health researchers to support the design of appropriate AMR activities for children and young people.

PHASE 1: RESEARCH AND YOUTH-LED ENGAGEMENT

After setting up the Youth Working Groups at each site, they led and conducted the following activities:

Worked with a local researcher to create 4 short films of a scientist explaining AMR to young people of increasing ages and at increasing levels of complexity.
A literature search about AMR on sites like PubMed and Web of Science
Social media activities (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Zalo, TikTok, etc..)

Watch the films here.

Comics posted on social media using young language (slangs)

PHASE 2: CURRICULUM REVIEW AND THE AMR LEARNING FRAMEWORK

The learning framework was developed as a resource for educators, health and research professionals to enable them to develop young peoples’ understanding of:

the science behind AMR
the individual, community, and global health risks AMR presents
the positive actions they can take to mitigate against AMR.

The framework identifies key learning outcomes appropriate to different age groups that are applicable across a diverse range of settings and learning environments. It can be used as a tool for structuring curricula and learning activities. It is aimed at teachers, educators, research scientists, and informal learning providers.

Download the full framework here and a short version with learning outcomes only here.

YAAR! on the international AMR Hub, The Global Health Network

The Antimicrobial Resistance Knowledge Hub on The Global Health Network supports stronger coordination, knowledge sharing, and faster progress in AMR research across the globe.

To disseminate our YAAR! project outputs, the team gathered and shared our study profile, including the materials, including young people’s content, learning framework, and successful youth working group model. We hope that with the diversified audience of The Global Health Network and AMR Hub, our case study will help to set an example of how powerful young people can become when they are equipped with knowledge, skills, passion, and trust.