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.

Key milestones

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..)

Comics posted on social media using young language (slangs)

Curriculum Review and the AMR Learning Framework

The learning framework was developed to help young people understand:

the science of AMR
the health risks of AMR at different levels
the actions they can take to mitigate against AMR.

The framework defines learning outcomes for different age groups and can be used in various settings. It helps structure curricula and learning activities, and is designed for teachers, educators, researchers, and informal learning providers.

Download the full framework here and a shorter version with learning outcomes 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 share our YAAR! project outputs, the team provided our study profile, including materials, young people’s content, learning framework, and successful youth working group model. We aim to inspire others by demonstrating the potential of informed and empowered young individuals through our case study on The Global Health Network and AMR Hub.