The AMR Circus bridges arts and science to deliver key messages to young people in Battambang and Siem Reap. The performances were co-created by COMRU/MORU, Phare Ponleu Selpak students (who took the lead in choreographing the performance), and local partners with crucial roles in public health and AMR in Cambodia (who ensured that the script was clear and correct). These partners included Action for Health Development (AHEAD), the Provincial Health Departments (PHD) in Battambang & Siem Reap, the Youth Advisory Group on Health and Research Engagement (YAGHRE) from Siem Pang, the Ministry of Health’s Department of Communicable Disease Control (CDC), and the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control (CNM). Through an engaging performance that used comedy, acrobatics, music and dance to illustrate key concepts about how AMR develops, one key message was “Don’t buy antibiotics over the counter. Instead, go to a health centre if you feel sick”.
In Jan 2026, the AMR circus performed 5 times, reaching ~4,000 audience members in Battambang and Siem Reap. In addition, through social media posts on TikTok and Facebook, AMR Circus’ new content has been seen by a further ~300,000 people. Alongside the circus performance, colourful paintings depicting AMR themes were on display, created by the visual arts students from the Phare Ponleu Selpak School. COMRU and MORU’s Paul Turner, Thyl Milia, Tom Peto, Phaik Yeong Cheah, Bipin Adhikari, Jennifer Tindall, and Elke Wynberg participated in the latest round of the project. Local organisations were very passionate about the project’s potential to raise awareness and knowledge about AMR on a national scale. The team are discussing next steps to bring the messages to more secondary schools, and can’t wait to see how the project evolves to achieve an even wider reach.
The project will be presented at a MORU Scientific Seminar on 9 Feb. You can read more about the co-creation process of the AMR Circus Project in this recent International Health article, Circus arts shine a spotlight on antimicrobial resistance in Cambodia.
- Thanks you, Elke Wynberg, for text and photos.