The drive-AMS project has officially concluded its mission with a high-level meeting held in Brussels from 16 to 18 October. Consortium members as well as other AMR experts, policymakers, and public health officials from across Europe gathered to review the project’s achievements and lessons learned, but also to discuss possibilities to broaden the impact of drive-AMS and to make its legacy sustainable.
Antimicrobial stewardship discussions often focus on hospitals, yet the majority of antibiotics are prescribed outside the inpatient setting. The Global-PPS Outpatient Module was created to close this critical knowledge gap. To support teams in implementing the Outpatient Survey, the G-PPS team has developed a wealth of resources, offering clear guidance, training, and practical tools.
Today, the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA) launches a new PPS Short Report & Intervention Guide. It functions as a practical resource designed to help healthcare facilities interpret their Point Prevalence Survey (PPS) results and identify targeted antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) interventions.
To mark the start of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, we’re excited to share our new animated explainer video. This short piece introduces the basic features of the Global-PPS and shows how it served as a key piece of the puzzle within the behaviour-change approach of the now concluded drive-AMS project.
In this interview, we speak with Maxencia Nabiryo, Head of Programmes at the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA), about her work tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across Africa. She shares insights on why AMR poses a critical threat to healthcare systems, the role of data-driven initiatives like Global-PPS, and how programmes such as CwPAMS and SPARC are empowering local teams to strengthen antimicrobial stewardship.
With the drive-AMS project coming to an end, it’s time to look back and evaluate, but also to look toward the future. In this interview article, our Country Leads from Romania, Lithuania, Greece and Portugal reflect on the project’s impact and achievements, as well as on the challenges that accompanied the journey. Although some difficulties were shared across countries, others were specific to national contexts. What united the Country Leads, however, was a shared commitment to innovation and collaboration, and, most importantly, a unanimous consensus about the project’s impact and success.
After three intense years of excellent collaboration, the drive-AMS project has officially come to an end. Time for project coordinators Erika Vlieghe and Jeroen Schouten to look back on the achievements and lessons learned.
At the end of the EU-4H financed phase of drive-AMS, Unidade Local de Saúde São João, the Portuguese partner of the project, organized a two-days meeting gathering all the sixteen Portuguese Local Health Units aboard the program. In addition to these sixteen healthcare institutions, the Society of Intensive Care Medicine, the Society of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, the Portuguese Hospital Infection Association, the Portuguese Hospital Administrators Association and the Portuguese Drug Agency (Infarmed) were also represented.
On 15 September, Global-PPS researcher Ines Pauwels successfully defended her PhD thesis, showcasing the powerful link between the Global-PPS initiative and the drive-AMS project.
In this latest edition of our AMS expert interview series, we speak with Esmée Ruizendaal, a clinical microbiologist at Radboud University Medical Center in The Netherlands, about her journey into global health, her upcoming SPICE* mission in Tanzania, and the value of collaborative mentorship in antimicrobial stewardship (AMS).
As the drive-AMS project reaches its conclusion, we’re thrilled to invite you to a special Networking Event on 16 October 2025, hosted at the Thon Hotel EU in Brussels. This event is part of the three-day final meeting of the drive-AMS initiative and will bring together key voices in antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) from across Europe.
On 20 and 21 October, all participating Portuguese institutions will gather in a drive-AMS-PT Long-Road Meeting, to discuss the program’s significance and future in Portugal.
We are delighted to announce that on 15 September, Ines Pauwels will publicly defend her PhD thesis titled: “Global antimicrobial prescribing patterns and the initiation of stewardship activities in hospitals within the Global-PPS network”
The Infection Control Africa Network (ICAN) regularly organizes IPC focused congresses. The 2025 ICAN Congress placed a strong emphasis on antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship and for that reason, Global-PPS, in collaboration with bioMérieux, made a significant impact at the 9th International ICAN Congress in Cape Town, South Africa (29 June to 2 July 2025). Global-PPS convened experts, showcased research, and delivered practical insights into data-driven approaches for tackling antimicrobial resistance across the African continent.
At the ESCMID Global Conference 2025 in Vienna, Global-PPS took the spotlight in the Critical Conversations: Voices of AMR Experts podcast series . In a compelling 18-minute episode, Global-PPS leads Prof. Erika Vlieghe and Ann Versporten joined the host to share their expertise on the Global Point Prevalence Survey and its impact on antimicrobial use surveillance worldwide.
The Global Point Prevalence Survey is designed to evaluate the use of antimicrobials in human hospitals and in outpatient settings. And yet, a recent study illustrated how this tool can be adapted for use in equine hospitals as well. This is of great value in studying the growing problem of antimicrobial resistance in veterinary medicine.
From 17 to 19 June 2025, Trinidad and Tobago’s capital Port of Spain became the hub of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) and infection prevention and control (IPC) education, as healthcare professionals from across the Caribbean gathered for the first-ever drive-AMS Masterclass in the region.
We’re excited to announce the publication of a new peer-reviewed article in JAC-Antimicrobial Resistance, discussing the development and first evaluation of the Global-PPS Outpatient Module.
The drive-AMS team recently had the privilege of conducting a highly interactive and impactful course in Nairobi, Kenya, focused on advancing antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) practices. Organized in collaboration with The International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS), ReAct Africa Network, Radboudumc, Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi and other key partners, the course brought together dedicated teams from eight Kenyan centers and one Somalian center, all eager to strengthen their AMS initiatives.
Antimicrobial resistance knows no borders, and neither does drive-AMS. Following its successful implementation in Greece, Portugal, Romania and Lithuania, the drive-AMS approach is now taking root in Cyprus. With the enthusiastic leadership of Dr. Elisavet Constantinou, Dr. Markella Marcou and Dr. Linos Hadjihannas, the country has taken major steps in implementing antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) at the hospital level. In a first major milestone, eight newly established AMS teams were trained in February 2025 as part of a tailor-made drive-AMS training. In this interview, Dr. Marcou and Dr. Hadjihannas reflect on their motivation, the AMR situation in Cyprus, and their expectations for the future.
The SPICE initiative (Specialized Program for Infectious Disease Care Everywhere) has now expanded its expert-led support to Greece. This effort is part of the broader drive-AMS project and aims to empower hospitals in partner countries with tailored, expert-backed AMS consultation services.
On May 21st, ULS São João brought together leaders from 16 Portuguese ULS (Local Health Units) for the national leadership meeting of the drive-AMS program—a project focused on improving antimicrobial prescribing practices through behavioral change strategies.
We’re excited to announce the Final Consortium Meeting of the drive-AMS project, taking place from 16–18 October 2025 in Brussels. This three-day event will gather partners, experts, and stakeholders from across Europe to reflect on the achievements of drive-AMS in strengthening antimicrobial stewardship and to shape the future of post-project collaboration.
At the ESCMID Global 2025 conference (Vienna, 11-15 April), the drive-AMS consortium presented key outcomes from its innovative EU-wide antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) project. The poster, titled “Implementation of hospital antimicrobial stewardship in Europe using a data-driven behaviour change approach,” showcased inspiring results from the first two years of the project.
Last week, the Global Point Prevalence Survey community came together for its annual meeting, held in collaboration with bioMérieux at the start of the ESCMID Global 2025 congress in Vienna. With over 160 participants joining both onsite and online, it was a vibrant and inspiring event that showcased the power of global collaboration in antimicrobial stewardship.