CSHS organises Empowerment Camp of Erasmus+ funded project on ‘Antibiotic Resistance’

Chitkara School of Health Sciences, in association with Spaak Centre, organised the 1st Empowerment Camp on ‘Prevent IT – Risk Management & Prevention of Antibiotics Resistance’ from July 1-5, 2019. The project is funded by Erasmus+.

Hon’ble Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Vice-Chancellor, Chitkara University; declared the Empowerment Camp open in the presence of 16 International & National consortium partners from Universities, NGOs and Hospitals. Among 874 project proposal designed by universities from four different continents, ‘PREVENT IT’ was among the few 147 granted the project. In addition, the project was ranked among the top 10% proposal of the call.

The main aim of the 5-Day Empowerment Camp is to create awareness regarding antibiotics resistance through the number of dissemination activities over the tenure of the next 3 years and establish Indo-European Network for Antibiotic Resistance.

Day-1, Prof. Preethi Pradhan, Dean, Chitkara School of Health Sciences; presented an overview of the Erasmus+ project to the participants followed by talks from other team members including Dr. Kiranjeet Kaur, Mr. Stephano Greco, Mr. Yaveesh Kashyap, who spoke about different domains of the project, including dissemination and visibility, marketing plan, new and modern teaching module on ABR etc . Also, a multidisciplinary session on, ‘Antimicrobial Resistance in India’ was taken by Dr. Sanjeev K Singh, Medical Superintendent, Amrita School of Medicine; followed be Dr. Preethi Pradhan discussing on ‘Holistic view of Antimicrobial Resistance’.

Partner Universities from India i.e. Symbiosis International University, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Chitkara University, Amrita University Vidypeetham; partners from Europe’s – Catholic University of Portugal, University of Milan, University of Maastricht; and partners from NGOs – Rural Institute for People Enlightenment & Voluntary Health Association of Tripura, gave their inputs & feedbacks on the draft modules and practices based on Antibiotic Resistance in their respective institutions, which will be further taught to the students of different schools.

As part of the 5-Day Empowerment Camp, a visit to pharmaceutical industry and Fortis Hospital, Mohali; was also organised to understand the view of the healthcare practioners and pharmaceutical companies on the issue of Antibiotic Resistance and explore its impact in the field. The final day of the camp included intra consortium coordinators Board Meeting and Finance team, to discuss the roadmap of the project going forward, and designing the schedule with a goal to reach out to the maximum number of people on local, regional, national & international level with help of different dissemination and visibility activities.

PREVENT IT is the second Erasmus+ Capacity Building project with an Indian university – Chitkara University as the lead institution. The vision of the project is a future where every individual has appropriate awareness about antibiotics resistance and is empowered with the right education to address the issue of antibiotics resistance. The project also aims to:

• In the Indian context, create the first Indian-European team for risk management and Prevention of antibiotics resistance.
• Create International and Interdisciplinary curricula at Indian Higher Education.
• Institution’s on risk management and prevention of antibiotics resistance.
• Create transversal skills, break geographical obstacles and increase accessibility: e-learning, development and dissemination (MOOC courses).
• Invest in young talents: create Indian super-experts with international outlook.
• Spread awareness in the society at large – exploiting new communication channels – and expose students to work environment.