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The pandemic may be interfering with our fight against drug-resistant bacteria. Luckily, the same tactics can beat back both scourges, writes Dr. Mohan P. Joshi, technical lead for antimicrobial resistance and global health security at MSH, in a recent opinion article for Knowable Magazine.
Programs that aim to enhance appropriate use of antibiotics are a key component of the World Health Organization’s Global Action Plan to fight antimicrobial resistance. But during the pandemic, health facilities’ plans to educate and monitor staff have often fallen by the wayside. So, too, have efforts to maintain surveillance and quality-control programs to beat back resistant pathogens.
Overburdened as they are, health care facilities have to recognize that efforts against both COVID-19 and antimicrobial resistance will work in tandem. Fighting one with surveillance, education, and research will also help the other.
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