Trinity Challenge launches £1 million competition for better community access to effective antibiotics

The Trinity Challenge led by the Master, Professor Dame Sally Davies, has launched a new £1 million competition to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries.

An estimated 39 million people are predicted to die of AMR by 2050 if robust action is not taken, according to the latest report by the GRAM Project. The misuse and overuse of antibiotics across healthcare, agriculture and the food industry is the main reason for the increasing speed in the growth of antibiotic resistance.

But in low- and middle-income countries (where gross national income per capita ranges from US$1136 to $4465 according to the OECD) the availability of effective antibiotics and prevalence of substandard or falsified antibiotics are key issues.

According to the University of Oxford’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 7.75 million people worldwide die of bacterial sepsis each year, almost three million of whom could have been treated with low-cost antibiotics, such as penicillin and amoxicillin. Children under five in low- and middle-income countries are particularly affected by sepsis.

Dame Sally Davies, who is the UK Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance, said:

We have identified a need to focus on access to effective oral antibiotics for community use, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

While we must limit the use of antibiotics when they are not needed, we must also ensure that quality antibiotics are available to treat appropriate infections before having a chance to be passed on to other people and animals or to develop drug-resistance.

The 2025 Trinity Challenge invites data-driven solutions from NGOs, researchers and other innovators to improve community access to effective oral antibiotics in low- and middle-income countries.

With a total prize pot of £1 million, the 2025 Trinity Challenge seeks ideas from and for those in low-and middle-income countries, including:

• Applying technology to improve the tracking of community demand and reporting on shortages and/or predicting shortages
• Using citizen data such as mobility or health metrics to improve sustainable access to effective oral antibiotics for human and/or animal use
• Developing methods for better identification of falsified antibiotics in the supply chain
• Developing technology for local community stock control
• Mitigating the effects of climate change on access to effective antibiotics
• Applying existing technology from other sectors to AMR
• Developing technology to monitor the effect of transport and storage factors on antibiotic quality

Dame Sally Davies said the response to last’s year Challenge, which awarded £2.7 million to four winners, had been brilliant and more needed to be done. ‘The antibiotic emergency is not a problem that we can solve overnight; it will require time, and a wide range of evolving approaches,’ she said.

Professor Marc Mendelson, Director of the Trinity Challenge, said that ensuring low-cost solutions for community access to effective oral antibiotics, both for humans and animals, would significantly benefit people’s lives in low- and middle-income countries.

Technologies such as block chain and AI could be used in the fight against AMR, he said. ‘We are looking to attract innovative thinking and new players to join us in our urgent mission to protect the power of antibiotics.’

The Wellcome Trust, which funds research combating infectious, is a funder of the 2025 Trinity Challenge. Sumi Robson of Wellcome’s Infectious Diseases Team said:

It will be exciting to see what novel data-driven solutions emerge from this Challenge, giving us new tools to help mitigate and respond to the AMR crisis and protect those most affected.

Apply by 24 April www.thetrinitychallenge.org