We’re proud to announce that U.S. Right to Know investigative journalist Natasha Gilbert won first prize in the Global AMR Media Awards for the Pan American region. The awards were announced at the 4th Global Media Forum in the lead up to World AMR Awareness Week. 

Gilbert was the first to report that targets to cut the use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture were dropped from a key United Nations political declaration following push back from the United States and other meat-producing nations. Early drafts of the declaration included concrete global targets to cut the quantity of antimicrobials used in agriculture by at least 30 per cent from countries’ current levels over the next 6-years. But in the final draft of the political declaration, the numerical targets are gone. 

Documents seen by USRTK show that the governments of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand—nations with big meat producing industries—objected to the targets and suggested deleting them.

Read more in Gilbert’s award-winning report, U.S. pressure weakens global commitments on antimicrobial resistance. 

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an urgent health crisis that kills nearly 1.3 million people each year, topping deaths from HIV and malaria combined.

“The media plays a crucial role in educating, advocating and holding entities accountable to take results-oriented actions for AMR resistance,” said FHI 360 Country Director Bhagwan Shrestha, before announcing Gilbert as first-place winner for the Pan American region for her Sept. 11, 2024 report for U.S. Right to Know. 

Gilbert joined U.S. Right to Know in May and she covers industrial animal agriculture. She is a former staff reporter for Nature, and former freelance editor and reporter at The Guardian.