Antimicrobial Resistance in Developing Countries: Impact, Interventions and Implications

About this Research Topic

Background

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is certainly one of the biggest global public health issues facing mankind. No corner of the world has been spared as both developing and developed countries battle this scourge. Most of the published literature has however come from developed countries, where there are systems in place to monitor or assess healthcare in particular or the society in general. High quality data derived from quality surveillance is needed but is not available because of the difficulties of setting up these systems in poor countries. Ironically it is in these poor countries that experts have predicted that the impact of AMR will be huge. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that it is not enough to depend on expert opinion. It was widely predicted that Africa would observe high mortalities but this did not occur. It is therefore important to show what the actual impact of AMR has been in developing countries.

Interventions are not always easy to implement, especially in settings where budgetary allocations are challenged. Infection prevention and control (IPC) programs are well-established, tried and tested programs that not only target antimicrobial resistance but all infections. Interventions such as antimicrobial stewardship are meant to prevent the spread of antimicrobial resistance and are believed to be the most effective programs. The kind of interventions being implemented should be monitored and evaluated. Success stories should be shared so that they can be replicated in similar settings whilst ineffective measures should be ended, to prevent using scarce resources to implement a program that will fail. Publications of the outcome of such interventions provide the evidence upon which policies and guidelines can be developed.

This topic gives valuable opportunities to showcase research from the developing world. Areas of research may include but are not limited to:

• The impact of AMR on morbidity and mortality in hospitals
• Current or active interventions that are in place or being evaluated
• Effectiveness of IPC measures to prevent spread of infections in healthcare settings
• Challenges and successes of stewardship programs.
• Manuscripts documenting AMR burden and highlighting its potential impact in LMICs
• Manuscripts that show or identify gaps in knowledge are also welcome.

Keywords: antimicrobial resistance, low-middle income countries, infection prevention and control, antimicrobial stewardship, policy evaluation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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