Submission ID 131769
| Issue/Objective | Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global health threat that undermines the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Evidence increasingly shows that AMR drives and is driven by inequities. Global guidance calls for equitable national responses to AMR, yet equity remains poorly defined and weakly applied in decisions on policy prioritization and resource allocation. This presentation demonstrates how the Smart Choice Process (SCP), an evidence-informed prioritization approach for AMR interventions, integrates equity into both what is prioritized and how decisions are made. |
|---|---|
| Methodology/Approach | The SCP consists of three phases with equity embedded throughout. Phase 1 (Planning) establishes an inclusive Core Planning Team and workshop participant list, ensuring representation of human, animal, and environmental sectors and balance across gender and seniority level. In Phase 2 (Prioritization Workshop), participants score AMR interventions against seven criteria, including equity. This identifies "Equity Driver" interventions that perform strongly on the equity criterion. These are then explicitly noted and considered during deliberations and selection of priority interventions. Skilled facilitators support consensus-building and help mitigate power imbalances. Phase 3 (Reporting) involves co-developing workshop reports and briefs with broader stakeholder input. |
| Results | The SCP was implemented in nine African countries between August 2024 and August 2025, allowing iterative refinement of equity's definition and scoring criteria, and application in workshops. Early implementation revealed that the concept of equity was ambiguous to participants. Refining the criterion to explicitly include dimensions such as gender, income, disability, and geography improved clarity and consistency. Providing context-specific examples and adapting delivery methods (e.g., guided videos) strengthened understanding. Embedding equity in the process proved as important as including it as a criterion. Countries ultimately prioritized interventions with strong equity performance, reflecting the influence of equity considerations in final decision-making. Participants valued inclusive, multisectoral engagement and open deliberation, reporting stronger ownership of prioritized interventions and related policy outputs. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | Equity is central to effective AMR planning given its disproportionate impact on underserved populations. The SCP offers a practical approach to embedding equity in prioritization by combining explicit criteria with inclusive decision-making. Clear definitions, structured guidance, and meaningful engagement are critical to making equity actionable in national policy planning. |
| Presenters and Affiliations | Clare McGall Global Strategy Lab Kadia Petricca Global Strategy Lab Suzanne Garkay Naro Global Strategy Lab Heba Qazilbash Global Strategy Lab Vesela Ivanova Global Strategy Lab Nicole Chung Global Strategy Lab Medha Bhushan Global Strategy Lab Julia Bishop Global Strategy Lab Geneviève Boily-Larouche Global Strategy Lab |
