Professor Erica Donner1
1Australia’s Cooperative Research Centre for Solving Antimicrobial Resistance in Agribusiness, Food, and Environments (CRC SAAFE)
Biography:
Professor Erica Donner is an environmental scientist with expertise in chemical and microbiological risk assessment and management. She specialises in systems-based contaminants analysis, focussing on the water cycle, circular economy, and food production systems.
Erica is Research Director of Australia’s Cooperative Research Centre for Solving Antimicrobial Resistance in Agribusiness, Food, and Environments (CRC SAAFE). In this role, she leads a national consortium of researchers working together with industry and government partners to co-design, develop, and implement best practice solutions to mitigate the complex threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
AMR is the quintessential “One Health” challenge – the ultimate example of the interrelatedness of human, animal, and environmental health. As the health of each of these depends on the health of the others, they need to be managed as a interdependent system. This is why CRC SAAFE brings together partners from right across the One Health spectrum to work together to tackle AMR at scale and with the urgency it warrants.
Erica is a member of the Australian Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (ASTAG) and a Steering Committee member and Chair of the Communications and Education Sub-committee for the South Australian AMR Action Plan (SAAMRAP). She co-leads the Food, Soil, and Water Security Theme in the NHMRC-funded Healthy Environments and Lives (HEAL) network, collaborating to co-create regional hubs and communities of practice dedicated to advancing One Health solutions across Australia.
Abstract:
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most pressing issues facing humanity this century. This complex threat is projected to cost the global economy US$100 trillion by 2050. Importantly, the drivers and impacts of AMR extend far beyond our hospital walls and formal healthcare settings, and include community health and food security. AMR strategies and action plans, (including Australia’s One Health AMR Strategy, and Master Action Plan, 2020 and Beyond) indicate that a One Health approach to addressing AMR must therefore go beyond human and veterinary medicine stewardship to incorporate multidisciplinary, multi-sector action. A critical component of the response needs to focus on environmental health. This is because the environment acts as an AMR source, reservoir and transmission route. This presentation will demonstrate the multifaceted nature of One Health AMR, highlight some of the key challenges and opportunities from an environmental health perspective, and show why water, waste, sanitation, and hygiene management are central to mitigating this critical global health crisis.