Antimicrobial Resistance in Conflict - Mixed Methods Analysis of the MENA Region
Lead Research Organisation:
King's College London
Department Name: War Studies
Abstract
My proposed doctoral thesis interrogates the interface
between antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and conflict. AMR is a
growing challenge across health systems globally. The Chief
Medical Officer has declared that antimicrobial resistance is
the greatest medical challenge of the 21st century. Conflict
is suggested as a driver of resistance patterns due to
biological and social pressures including flight of medical
staff, attacks on healthcare, heavy metal pollution and
population migration. With no robust studies in conflict
regions, there are important gaps in the understanding of
distribution and association with dynamics of conflict such as
geography, weaponry, intensity of violence and the nature of
wounds acquired in conflict.
Existing narrow policy framings of AMR reflect a phenomenon
poorly translated across non-medical policy domains. The
narratives of securitisation and biosurveillance dominate
much of the public and political discourse surrounding AMR.
Political doctrines charting the longstanding stigmatisation of
migrants have been further cemented through the adoption
of discourses that employ medical concerns as central to
appreciating the "threat" posed by displaced peoples fleeing
conflict. Identifying how the stigmatisation of populations has
emerged from security narratives connects this issue to
wider work on communicable diseases, and provides a lens
with which to interrogate the social production of AMR as a
'threat' to the global system. Using the lens of complex
adaptive systems, a novel and illuminative model for AMR in
conflict can be established
between antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and conflict. AMR is a
growing challenge across health systems globally. The Chief
Medical Officer has declared that antimicrobial resistance is
the greatest medical challenge of the 21st century. Conflict
is suggested as a driver of resistance patterns due to
biological and social pressures including flight of medical
staff, attacks on healthcare, heavy metal pollution and
population migration. With no robust studies in conflict
regions, there are important gaps in the understanding of
distribution and association with dynamics of conflict such as
geography, weaponry, intensity of violence and the nature of
wounds acquired in conflict.
Existing narrow policy framings of AMR reflect a phenomenon
poorly translated across non-medical policy domains. The
narratives of securitisation and biosurveillance dominate
much of the public and political discourse surrounding AMR.
Political doctrines charting the longstanding stigmatisation of
migrants have been further cemented through the adoption
of discourses that employ medical concerns as central to
appreciating the "threat" posed by displaced peoples fleeing
conflict. Identifying how the stigmatisation of populations has
emerged from security narratives connects this issue to
wider work on communicable diseases, and provides a lens
with which to interrogate the social production of AMR as a
'threat' to the global system. Using the lens of complex
adaptive systems, a novel and illuminative model for AMR in
conflict can be established
Publications

Baatz R
(2022)
Cross-border strategies for access to healthcare in violent conflict - A scoping review
in Journal of Migration and Health

Bernard R
(2021)
Disinformation and Epidemics: Anticipating the Next Phase of Biowarfare
in Health Security

Bernard R
(2020)
COVID-19 and the Rise of Participatory SIGINT: An Examination of the Rise in Government Surveillance Through Mobile Applications
in American Journal of Public Health

Bowsher G
(2020)
Why we need an intelligence-led approach to pandemics: supporting science and public health during COVID-19 and beyond
in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

Bowsher G
(2021)
Building Resilient Health Systems Intelligence: Adapting Indicators of Compromise for the Cyber-Bionexus.
in Health security

Bowsher G
(2021)
eHealth for service delivery in conflict: a narrative review of the application of eHealth technologies in contemporary conflict settings.
in Health policy and planning

Bowsher G
(2021)
Veterinary intelligence: integrating zoonotic threats into global health security.
in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine

Bowsher G
(2020)
A Health Intelligence Framework for Pandemic Response: Lessons from the UK Experience of COVID-19
in Health Security

Ekzayez A
(2022)
Health research in the Syrian conflict: opportunities for equitable and multidisciplinary collaboration.
in Journal of public health (Oxford, England)
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ES/P000703/1 | 30/09/2017 | 29/09/2027 | |||
2293540 | Studentship | ES/P000703/1 | 30/09/2019 | 29/09/2025 | Gemma Mary Bowsher |