The West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) at the University of Ghana has earned international recognition at the 2025 Vivli Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Surveillance Data Challenge, winning the AMR Impact Award for their outstanding contribution to global efforts addressing antimicrobial resistance.
The annual data challenge—funded by Johnson & Johnson, Paratek, Pfizer, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH)—invites researchers worldwide to develop innovative tools and analyses using high-quality AMR surveillance data from the Vivli AMR Register.
This year’s competition attracted 58 teams from 22 countries, underscoring the global importance of combatting antimicrobial resistance, one of the most pressing threats to public health.
The WACCBIP team, led by Righteous Kwaku Agoha, included Wendy Akushika Dogbegah, Albert Yao Kudakpo, and Dorvi Ignatus Nunana from the University of Ghana, with Dr. Stephen Obol Opiyo from The Ohio State University as a collaborator. Their project, titled “Multidimensional Surveillance of AMR in North and Central America Using Species, Age, Geographic, and Genomic Insights,” employed a novel multi-layered analytical approach to map AMR trends across different demographic and geographic variables.
By integrating species-specific data with age, genomic, and location-based insights, the team’s work offers new ways to understand and predict AMR dynamics—an approach that can enhance decision-making for public health interventions in both resource-rich and resource-limited settings.
“This award is a testament to the power of African-led innovation in addressing global health challenges,” said Agoha.
“Through the Vivli AMR Surveillance Data Challenge, we were able to demonstrate how data from diverse regions can be harnessed to generate meaningful insights that inform AMR control strategies worldwide.”
The WACCBIP team was one of six winning teams and one honorable mention recognized by a distinguished panel of international judges.
Other top awards included the AMR Global Leadership Award Grand Prize (Vellore Institute of Technology, India), the AMR Visionary Award Grand Prize (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Johns Hopkins University, USA), and the AMR Student Innovation Award (University of Oxford, UK).
Dr. Marc Mendelson, Chair of the Vivli AMR Scientific Advisory Board and Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Cape Town, commended the winners for their exceptional contributions.
“This year’s submissions demonstrated remarkable growth in the quality and creativity of data-driven solutions for addressing AMR. We congratulate all the winners, particularly the University of Ghana team, for their impactful work.”
The Vivli AMR Surveillance Data Challenge is part of Vivli’s broader mission to advance global health through open data sharing and collaborative research.
