The spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and development of resistant microbes is a critical challenge to control AMR. Different approaches, like antimicrobial stewardship programmes, Global and National action plan, and enhanced surveillance, have been formulated to restrict the spread of AMR. But the threat of AMR and knowledge on ongoing surveillance, stewardship or investigation efforts are poorly documented and understood especially in low- and middle-income countries.
The systematic review conducted by Kivumbi and Standley, 2021 aimed to look at the efforts that have been undertaken to detect and combat antimicrobial resistance in Uganda as a means of establishing an overview of the situation, to help inform future decisions. A systematic literature review was conducted in the PubMed database to assess the articles by combining keywords associated with antimicrobial resistance. the relevant articles were searched that are published between 1995 and 2020 on surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in Uganda, and susceptibility of microbes to different drugs.
The study found that antibacterial resistance and antimalarial resistance had the most published studies while antiviral and antifungal resistance were represented by very few studies each. Most studies were conducted in humans and hospital settings, with few in veterinary and One Health contexts, and only one that included environmental sampling. The majority of studies have focused on surveillance, susceptibility testing or resistance genes; none of the included papers had a policy or stewardship focus.
The study recommends broad AMR surveillance in diverse area of rural and urban setting. However, more attention to be given to antiviral and antifungal resistance for which it should be included under the AMR National Action Plan and related policy documents. Furthermore, a One Health approach needs to be strictly followed with regard to surveillance of AMR for better understanding of the mechanisms of resistance transfer across different sectors of human-animal–environment interface.
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