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UNE Student Honored by United Nations for work on “Silent Growing Pandemic”
Before Pantelis Antoniou enrolled in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, he directed a World Health Organization campaign.
Many people hear the phrase antimicrobial resistance and think it’s only a biomedical issue. But Pantelis Antoniou wanted to put a human face — or, more correctly, many faces — on what is considered one of the greatest health threats today. So, when the World Health Organization (WHO) asked him to help direct a regional survey and social media campaign on the threat, Antoniou, who is now in his second year at the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, answered the call.
A year later, his work is still resonating.
In September, the United Nations General Assembly recognized the social media campaign directed by Antoniou and his colleague Ketevan Kandelaki at just its second High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance, or AMR. Antimicrobial resistance is what occurs when viruses, bacteria, and parasites adapt and no longer respond to medicines.
The social media campaign that concludes this month was featured on the World Health Organization’s LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook accounts each week for the past year. It also was published in a book of photos and testimonials from those impacted by AMR.
“A lot of people think AMR is really abstract and really a problem for scientists and maybe doctors, that it doesn't affect everyday people. In fact, it is one of the top 10 health threats to humanity, according to the World Health Organization,” Antoniou said. “One framework or concept I learned doing this work was the idea of ‘one health,’ how WHO uses a unifying approach to balancing people, animals, and ecosystems. Everything is connected.”
The World Health Organization considers antimicrobial resistant organisms a danger that impacts human, agricultural, and environmental health in equal measure. There are two pressing concerns with AMR: the over prescribing of antibiotics to humans that can result in organisms becoming resistant to the antibiotics and the fact farmers use antimicrobials for livestock, a long-standing practice that also allows organisms to mutate and proliferate.
“If these organisms mutate, they can cross into humans,” noted Jane Carreiro, D.O. ’88, dean of UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and vice president for Health Affairs. “Antimicrobial resistance has been a worsening issue for 50 years, especially the food system with the preventative treatment of livestock.”
Carreiro said the dual honor of being recognized by the United Nations and having an online campaign made into a publication would be a significant honor for any health professional, let alone one who is still enrolled in medical school.
“The World Health Organization has many checks and balances to any approved publication,” Carriero said. “When the WHO speaks on an issue, they're speaking globally to individuals in different countries, in very different environments, and circumstances — ecological circumstances, environmental circumstances, economic circumstances, cultural circumstances. So, when the WHO release a statement, it’s been vetted to serve that very wide and diverse audience.”
While Antoniou is currently in medical school at UNE, he’s already produced an impressive track record as a public health advocate since he earned a Master of Public Health (M.P.H.) from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in 2016.
Before taking the WHO post in Copenhagen, Denmark, in early 2023, Antoniou worked as a care manager at St. Joseph’s Health in Syracuse, New York, to provide services for clients facing socioeconomic barriers. Before that, he served as the program coordinator for New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s Comprehensive Health Program/Hepatitis C, once again helping populations with historically poor access to health care.
“People talk about medical school being a career change. I don’t see it like that,” Antoniou said. “Medical school was always the dream. But to me, public health and medicine have always been two sides of the same coin.”
The AMR awareness campaign Antoniou directed out of the WHO Regional Office for Europe in Denmark, told the stories of everyday people from all 53 member states of the WHO European Region, from farmers, physicians, and politicians to researchers, scientists, and patients. The year-long installment of profiles includes an occupational physician in Greece, a surgeon in Kyrgyzstan, a restaurant owner in the Republic of Georgia, a farmer in Denmark, and a science teacher in Andorra. The aim was to show how antimicrobial-resistant organisms are found in the swimming water, or in water used to water crops or sustain livestock in agricultural communities because people flush antibiotics down the drain.
See the Stories
A selection of portraits from Antoniou’s campaign. See more at the WHO Europe official Instagram account.
Farmer and nurse, Denmark. “When asked back in 2015 if we wanted to start raising pigs without the use of antibiotics, my husband and I had no doubts saying yes."
Restaurant owner, Republic of Georgia. "By reserving antibiotics for their appropriate use, we can help prevent antimicrobial resistance.”
Surgeon, Kyrgyzstan. "I have witnessed challenges with the inappropriate use of antibiotics and increasing trends in AMR, which is very worrying for me as a surgeon."
Romania. "I am very glad to be as well as I am today, … My message to everyone is: Let’s protect the use of antibiotics because they save lives.”
The ultimate goal of the project, Antoniou said, is to “to inspire stakeholders and decision makers to drive global, regional, and national efforts to tackle antimicrobial resistance.”
At the same time, Antoniou never imagined his public-awareness campaign would draw attention on the world stage.
“I’m at a loss for words. It still feels a bit surreal. It’s definitely bigger than anything I would have expected,” he said.
At the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 26 where Kandelaki and Antoniou’s publication was honored, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called AMR a “silent growing pandemic” that is projected to be the No. 1 cause of death by 2050.
“If we don't get our act together, imagine what happens if you get an infection from going in the garden, or having a baby, or going to the dentist. These are things that can bring your life to an end within 47 to 72 hours if the particular antibiotics that you are using are not effective,” Mottley said. “I challenge everyone in here to reflect on someone that we know who we’ve lost because of a hospital-related infection or because the antibiotics simply did not work and the old process of going through each one to see which one is effective.”