As the global health community rallies to support the COVID-19 response, the Fleming Fund is committed to continuing crucial work on AMR, during this crisis and beyond.
Global online professional development programme on tackling Antimicrobial Resistance relaunched
A free online programme developed by the Fleming Fund and The Open University to strengthen the global response to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been relaunched with updated content across all 25 courses.
The online professional development programme Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance supports practitioners in adapting, building expertise, and applying new skills and knowledge to change work practices and improve AMR data surveillance. Since its launch in 2021, the programme has received over 75K visits.
(Above): Laboratory scientists in Indonesia. (Credit: Mott MacDonald).
AMR is an issue of great global concern. Health economists estimate that, by 2050, AMR could result in $100T in lost economic activity and up to 10M deaths each year if current trends continue. The Fleming Fund focuses on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) because they bear the heaviest consequences of drug-resistant infections.
OU researchers monitoring the [Fleming Fund AMR] programme’s impact have consistently found compelling evidence of how the courses are helping professionals transform their practice.
Professionals involved in AMR-related roles across the One Health sectors: human, animal, and environmental, are essential for mitigating the impacts of AMR. There is widespread recognition of the need to provide learning opportunities as AMR-related knowledge and practice evolve. The Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance online programme’s primary aim is to help professionals in Fleming Fund-supported countries to enhance their work practices in their relevant roles.
The Open University (OU) has been the Fleming Fund global learning partner since 2018, tasked with producing the workforce development programme online. OU researchers monitoring the programme’s impact have consistently found compelling evidence of how the courses are helping professionals transform their practice.
Labortory Scientist supported by the Fleming Fund with OU AMR course completion certificate. (Credit: Mott MacDonald).
One learner reflected: “Before these modules, I was not conscious [of AMR] [...] My practice is completely changed after reading these modules.” And another learner commented: “After going through the online modules and then the training − now, we double-check everything, every result that goes out of the lab […] So, it has brought an improvement in our work.”
The structure and interactivity of the courses have also been widely praised: “This particular [AMR learning ] toolkit is unique. We’ve never had something like this […] designed in such a way that it’s optimally interactive. It is not one person talking and the rest of the people listening. […] It is a more effective way of actually learning on the job than what we’ve been doing previously.”
Over 7,400 learners have enrolled and earned 3,600 digital badges recognising their learning through the courses. A considerable proportion of those learners are from Fleming Fund-supported countries and other LMICs.
The online programme comprises 25 short courses and a practice toolkit. The courses are organised into ten learning pathways tailored to professionals’ specific job roles. Learners choose and work through each six-hour course at their own pace.
Four new AMR specialist courses have been commissioned and will be released later in 2025 to extend the breadth of topics covered in the programme.
About The Open University
The Open University (OU) is the largest academic institution in the UK and a world leader in flexible distance learning. Since it began in 1969, the OU has taught more than 2.3 million students worldwide and currently has around 200,000 students.
Seventy-one per cent of directly registered students are in full-time or part-time employment, and 73 FTSE 100 companies have sponsored staff to take OU courses. In the latest assessment exercise for university research (Research Excellence Framework, 2021), over three quarters (76%) of OU research was assessed as 4 or 3 star – the highest ratings available, awarded to research that is world-leading or internationally excellent. The OU’s commitment to research and societal impact is recognised too with 82% of its research impact assessed to be world-leading or internationally excellent.
For further information please visit The Open University website.
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The Fleming Fund and the Open University have released new modules on the Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance course, meaning 23 modules are now available. The course is completely free and available world-wide, regardless of whether participants are affiliated with the Fleming Fund.