الكاتب: لياندرا رايسماير

From 13 to 15 February, a group of 38 healthcare professionals from eight hospitals across Cyprus gathered in Nicosia for an intensive three-day learning experience: the drive-AMS Antimicrobial Stewardship course. Hosted by the Cyprus Ministry of Health and supported by EU-JAMRAI, this event brought the innovative drive-AMS methodology to the Mediterranean, equipping Cypriot hospitals with the knowledge and tools to enhance antimicrobial stewardship.

تشكل مقاومة مضادات الميكروبات (AMR) تحدياً كبيراً للصحة العامة، لا سيما في مرافق الرعاية طويلة الأمد (LTCFs) حيث يكون كبار السن الضعفاء معرضين بشدة للعدوى. ويساهم الاستخدام المفرط وغير المناسب للمضادات الحيوية، خاصةً في حالات عدوى المسالك البولية المشتبه بها، في ظهور بكتيريا متعددة المقاومة مما يهدد سلامة المرضى.

The second drive-AMS country course in Lithuania took place from 29 January to 1 February, bringing together 40 participants, including teams from four new hospitals and one new team from the University Hospital Pediatric Division. This course provided a vital platform for expanding AMS initiatives in Lithuania. Among the attendees was Eglė Karinauskė, an inspiring clinical pharmacologist dedicated to rational antibiotic prescribing. Known as the ‘AMR girl’ among her colleagues, Eglė is a passionate advocate for AMS, and in this interview, she shares her insights, experiences, and the impact of drive-AMS on her work.

STOP-Hospital Infection is a quality improvement program developed by the Portuguese Health Priority Program on Prevention of Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance, seeded in the Directorate General of Health, in partnership with the Gulbenkian Foundation and with the support of the Institute of Healthcare Improvement.

From January 29 -31, the second drive-AMS Masterclass for Rwandan hospitals took place in Kigali, bringing together teams from across the country for an intensive three-day training.

The third edition of the Portuguese drive-AMS training course recently took place, promoting strategies to support the prescription of antibiotics in eight national hospitals. It’s in line with the objective of the drive-AMS project to create measures in partner hospitals to combat antimicrobial resistance, through promoting behavioural change in prescribing doctors.

تعد مقاومة مضادات الميكروبات (AMR) أحد أكثر التحديات الصحية إلحاحًا في عصرنا الحالي، وتهدد بتقويض عقود من التقدم الطبي. واستجابةً لذلك، جمع فريق القيادة-AMS في المركز الطبي بجامعة رادبود، بالتعاون الوثيق مع شركة بيوميريو، خبرته الواسعة في دليل شامل بعنوان "الإشراف على مضادات الميكروبات: دليل عملي للتنفيذ في المستشفيات."

The global fight against Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) took center stage on 26 September 2024, at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on AMR (UN Headquarters, New York, USA). This silent pandemic brought world leaders together for the second time to confront AMR and laid out a roadmap of political commitments.

drive-AMS and EU-JAMRAI2, the second phase of the European Joint Action on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and Healthcare-Associated Infections, are aligning their efforts, recognizing that both initiatives share crucial goals. EU-JAMRAI2 is dedicated to assisting EU Member States in implementing targeted actions against AMR, with the ultimate goal of safeguarding public health on the continent.

As part of drive-AMS, the team at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, is expanding their SPICE Expert Registry to Greece, Lithuania, Romania and Portugal. SPICE stands for Specialized Programme for Infectious Disease Care Everywhere

From 18 to 24 November, join us and the global community in the WHO World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW). This annual campaign raises awareness about AMR and promotes best practices to reduce the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.

The drive-AMS methodology has successfully expanded beyond Europe, reaching both Africa and Asia. After having been implemented in Tanzania, drive-AMS’s distinctive approach, which combines antimicrobial use measurement, implementation support, and behavioural change, is now also active in Indonesia.

Dr. Birutė Zablockienė is part of the core drive-AMS team implementing antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in Lithuania. In this interview, she shares insights into her work on combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the challenges her team faces in ensuring appropriate antimicrobial use across multiple hospital departments.

In this interview, Professor Emmanuel Roilides, the country lead for the drive-AMS project in Greece, discusses his commitment to combating antimicrobial resistance. He shares the significant progress made by the Greek drive-AMS network in promoting antibiotic stewardship across hospitals, highlighting the challenges and successes encountered along the way. Professor Roilides also outlines the future goals of expanding the network and gaining broader state recognition to enhance the fight against resistant infections.

نحن فخورون بأن نعلن أنه قد تم تسليط الضوء على برنامج Drive-AMS في موجز السياسات الذي أصدره مؤخرًا المرصد الأوروبي للنظم والسياسات الصحية، تحت قسم “تعزيز تنفيذ استراتيجيات فعالة لمكافحة مقاومة مضادات الميكروبات”.”

In this interview, Mihaela Lupse, professor in infectious diseases and lead of the Romanian drive-AMS network, sheds light on the situation in her country. She elaborates on the ongoing efforts in fighting AMR and establishing the project in Romania.

In this interview, Dr. Raquel Duro, member of the Portuguese drive-AMS team, elaborates on her role within the project, the AMS interventions in her hospital and how AMR has affected patients.

The second part of the course dedicated to antimicrobial stewardship, integrated into the European drive-AMS project, recently took place.

It’s the end of our drive-AMS in-country trainings! From 15 until 18 May, the final course took place in Birštonas, Lithuania, organised by dr. Rolanda Valinteliene from the Institute of Hygiene in Vilnius and her team. The four days included presentations and workshops providing deeper insights into antimicrobial stewardship: basic requirements, objectives, prescribing patterns in Europe, quantity & quality of antimicrobial use, determinants & barriers, behavioural change and more.

Dr. Francisco Almeida from the Infection Prevention and Control and Antimicrobial Resistance Unit (UPCIRA) of São João Hospital, in Porto, Portugal, was awarded with the first prize of the AMS Certificate Programme 2022-2024 from ESCMID. He received the award for a project within the scope of drive-AMS, an antimicrobial stewardship project, with European funding, coordinated in Portugal by São João Hospital and involving 7 more national health units.