- Published
- 07 June 2021
- Journal article
Strategies to improve antimicrobial utilization with a special focus on developing countries
- Authors
-
- Source
- Life
Full text
Abstract
Abstract: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a high priority across countries as it increases mor-bidity, mortality and costs. Concerns with AMR have resulted in multiple initiatives interna-tionally, nationally and regionally to enhance appropriate antibiotic utilization across sectors to reduce AMR, with the overuse of antibiotics exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Effec-tively tackling AMR is crucial for all countries. Principally a narrative review of ongoing activi-ties across sectors was undertaken to improve antimicrobial use and address issues with vaccines including COVID-19. Point prevalence surveys have been successful in hospitals to identify areas for quality improvement programs, principally centering on antimicrobial stewardship pro-grams. These include reducing prolonged antibiotic use to prevent surgical site infections. Multiple activities centering on education have been successful in reducing inappropriate pre-scribing and dispensing of antimicrobials in ambulatory care for essentially viral infections such as acute respiratory infections. It is imperative to develop new quality indicators for ambulatory care given current concerns, and instigate programs with clear public health messaging to re-duce misinformation, essential for pandemics. Regular access to effective treatments is needed to reduce resistance to treatments for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis. Key stakeholder groups can instigate multiple initiatives to reduce AMR. These need to be followed-up.
Rights
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Cite as
Godman, B., Egwuenu, A., Haque, M., Malande, O., Schellack, N., Kumar, S., Saleem, Z., Sneddon, J., Hoxha, I., Islam, S., Mwita, J., Nascimento, R., Godói, I., Lum Niba, L., Amu, A., Acolatse, J., Incoom, R., Sefah, I., Opanga, S., Kurdi, A., Chikowe, I., Khuluza, F., Kibuule, D., Ogunleye, O., Olalekan, A., Markovic-Pekovic, V., Meyer, J., Alfadl, A., Phuong, T., Kalungia, A., Campbell, S., Pisana, A., Wale, J. & Seaton, R. 2021, 'Strategies to improve antimicrobial utilization with a special focus on developing countries', Life, 11(6), article no: 528. https://doi.org/10.3390/life11060528