This friendship sparked in Saskatchewan could fight a global health threat in Sri Lanka

This University of Saskatchewan lab was where a friendship and now an international project all started literally right here. This is where we we sat together. It’s where Joe Rubin met his first graduate student, Roshan Madelagama. Now, from across the globe, the two are tackling antimicrobial resistance, or AMR. That’s the resistance to antibiotics that makes medical treatments harder and riskier. Only this time, Madelagama is taking the lead doctor. Madelagama has gone on to do really amazing things. He’s been. A really, I think, inspirational person in his country. After going home to Sri Lanka six years ago, Madelagama has helped the World Health Organization and Sri Lanka’s government come up with plans to address AMR. The Who deems it a major global threat, and rates are especially high in Sri Lanka. And livestock industry may contribute significant contribution to the antimicrobial assistance, antimicrobial resistance in in the country, but we try to minimize this risk. Worry is vets won’t be able to treat infections in livestock, which many families depend on. And then that resistance could transfer to humans everywhere. All the world is like a, you know, like a one village, now global village. That means grassroots work led by Madelagama and his team, with Ruben pitching in from home. And on the odd trip, they’re helping rural vets detect issues faster and bring more information to researchers across Sri Lanka. Their first goal, creating a lab manual, was just published as open data. This fall, 2 technicians will visit Reuben in Saskatoon to get even more training. A trip Madela Gamma knows will affect his colleagues forever. I always believe that my second home in Canada, so you know the as a mentor, is one of the one of the greatest person I ever met in my life. There’s no doubt on that. An international relationship sparked in Saskatchewan that could fight a global health threat. Sam Sampson, CBC News, Regina.