Brazil has a universal public healthcare system that guarantees free care for all citizens, but in practice it is a mixed system where access and quality vary significantly between regions. Rolling out GAMSAS across Brazil is important because it transforms antimicrobial stewardship from isolated best practice into a scalable, measurable national system; and for King’s, it represents a high-impact, partnership-driven, research-to-practice initiative aligned with its 2030 global health and societal impact goals.”
Paul Long, Professor in Pharmacognosy, King's College London
08 May 2026
Professor Paul Long highlights antimicrobial stewardship in Brazil visit
Professor Paul Long, representing the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (BSAC), was invited by the Brazilian Federal Ministry of Health to Brasília to showcase the Global Antimicrobial Stewardship Accreditation Scheme (GAMSAS) - an ambitious initiative tackling one of the world’s most urgent health threats.
Held on 27 April, the round table convened senior figures from across Brazil’s public health landscape, including representatives from ANVISA - the country’s regulatory authority for medicines and healthcare products.
At the centre of discussions was GAMSAS, a rigorous three-year accreditation programme designed to help healthcare institutions strengthen antimicrobial stewardship and surveillance. By combining expert-led education, real-world benchmarking, and continuous improvement, the programme equips hospitals and health systems with the tools to optimise antibiotic use, improve patient outcomes, and curb the accelerating threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Introducing the programme at a federal level aims to support the alignment of national policy, regulation, and clinical practice across Brazil’s healthcare system, enabling coordinated surveillance and stewardship strategies and facilitating large-scale, long-term impact in tackling AMR.
The response from Brazilian partners was immediate and positive. ANVISA has already initiated follow-up discussions to explore how GAMSAS could align with and strengthen its national stewardship efforts, opening up the possibility of future collaboration.
Developed by BSAC, GAMSAS is gaining international recognition as a practical, scalable solution to AMR. Its introduction in Brazil marks a significant step forward in global cooperation, reinforcing shared commitments to safeguard the effectiveness of life-saving antimicrobials and build more resilient health systems worldwide.
Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) is the coordinated effort to ensure patients receive the right drug, at the right dose, for the right duration. Antibiotic stewardship has been a long-standing focus of Professor Long’s research, with his work contributing to its international development and implementation.
For example, research led by Professor Long between 2011 and 2020 examined oral penicillin dosing guidelines in the UK, showing that age-band dosing recommendations had not been updated since 1963, alongside variation in prescribing practices, with many children not receiving optimal doses.
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Professor in Pharmacognosy