World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) runs every year from 18 - 24 November to raise awareness of AMR and promote global action. This year the theme is “Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future.” ESCMID is proud to participate throughout the week on our social media channels as we explore different facets of AMR and learn more about the campaign on the WHO website.

Science and Research

The final ESCMID WAAW webinar took place earlier today exploring vaccines and AMR. You can catch up on the full series on our website and check in on what the AMR Action Subcommittee has been up to recently. All videos are free to watch.

ESCMID CAREer Grant applications are now open! This grant supports researchers balancing scientific work with family or caregiving responsibilities. Maintain your research momentum while reducing workload. The closing date for applications is 15 January 2026.

Education

Applications for the 2026 - 2028 AMS Certificate Programme and registrations for the EUCIC Certificate Programme open today! Do not miss your chance to join these leading ESCMID training programmes designed to strengthen your expertise in antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention and control. Full programme details, requirements, and application information are now available on the ESCMID website.

Congress and Events

Antimicrobial resistance will be featured at ESCMID Global through the AMR track. Susan Huang’s keynote lecture will be a major highlight as she covers methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) in the hospital setting.

See the full list of highlighted events from WHO that are taking place all week to support the awareness of antimicrobial resistance. Discover the numerous ways that AMR is being addressed and the different challenges we still face.

Guidelines and Journals

In this special World AMR Awareness Week episode of Communicable, Nav Narayanan and Thomas Tängdén host Aula Abbara, Guido Granata and Tuomas Aro to discuss the phenomenon of AMR in conflict and crisis zones. This episode follows the ESCMID/WAAW webinar “Beyond the frontlines”, featuring the same guests, available now on ESCMID Media.

This week’s alert covers updates to: Marburg virus outbreak in Ethiopia (nine cases, six deaths); Dengue (4.5 million cases globally) and chikungunya (458K mainly in the Americas and Asia) with updates on European transmission; West Nile virus in Europe (1,096 locally acquired infections and 95 deaths, mostly in Italy); and seasonal influenza A (H3N2) starting early and rising across Europe.

Editorial Note: Launch of the “Reviews on Research Methods” Collection

Community human-to-human transmission of multidrug resistant Enterobacterales in high-income countries: a systematic review