4 ways we are trying to tackle antibiotic resistance | ENG

MSF291277

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4 ways we are trying to tackle antibiotic resistance | GERMAN

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4 ways we are trying to tackle antibiotic resistance | INT

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Middle East: ABR

4 ways we are trying to tackle antibiotic resistance | GERMAN

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4 ways we are trying to tackle antibiotic resistance | FR

4 ways we are trying to tackle antibiotic resistance | ARABIC

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Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF291277

Date taken / Date Recorded 15/11/2019 12:00 AM

Country Iraq, Jordan, Palestinian Territories, Yemen

Commissioning section MSF-BELGIUM

Photographer / videographer / producer Hussein Amri

Usage Rights (MSF) External Media, MSF Publications, Social Media

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★ (F)

Video format h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 4m23s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 507.67 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist Did you know that we are losing the ability to use antibiotics, one of modern medicine’s most powerful drugs?

4 ways we are trying to tackle antibiotic resistance

Hi, I’m Anas Al Horani, a medical translator at Doctors Without Borders. Antibiotics kill the bacteria which are responsible for dangerous, life-threatening infections. This makes these drugs super important. Without them, people could die from complications of small infected wounds, or common diseases.

But here is the thing: every time bacteria are exposed to antibiotics, there’s a small chance they learn how to defend themselves against it. And when they do, they acquire antibiotic resistance. Over the decades, people have used a lot of antibiotics. More than you think, because patients don’t always realise they are taking are antibiotics. So bacteria have had plenty of opportunities to become resistant to drugs.

In places like the Middle East, that are hit by violent conflicts or are trying to recover from them, violence adds an extra level of complexity to the problem. The wounds caused by gunshots, explosions and bombings often require complex surgical interventions and are very vulnerable to bacterial infections.

1 - One way we are trying to tackle this issue in some of our projects is through laboratories. Here in Amman, Jordan, for example, we can find out which bacteria causes an infection, and to which antibiotic it is resistant. This is extremely useful for our doctors to decide what type of antibiotics is most effective to treat our patients.

Title: May Al Asmar - Microbiology lab supervisor
Location: Amman, Jordan
“We take these samples and try to process them as well as possible. We follow the right steps until we arrive at the right antibiotic, so the right dose can be decided for every patient.”

2 - Another way to fight this resistance is through something we call antibiotic stewardship. Strict rules on the sale over-the-counter drugs at pharmacies and on the use of antibiotics is very important. But when a place is hit by war, implementing or enforcing these rules becomes very difficult. This is why MSF makes sure that all of our medical staff understand how antibiotics should be used, even in war-torn countries like Yemen, for instance.

Title: Marwa Qasim Mohammed - Doctor
Location: Aden, Yemen
“We learned to follow a protocol that defines the type of antibiotic that should be used for different types of infections. We also received courses on how to prescribe antibiotics based on the type of bacteria causing the infection being treated.”

3 – We also need strict rules to avoid resistance spreading in hospitals. In Iraq, that’s Fatima’s job, our infection and prevention control supervisor.

Title: Fatima Salim Younis – Infection and prevention control supervisor
Location: Mosul, Iraq
“Our infection prevention and control programme has three pillars: the first is hand hygiene. The second is cleaning, sanitising and sterilising the environment and medical devices. The third pillar is controlling the channels of spread of infection.”

4- And patients also have responsibilities. In some instances, they need to understand why we are taking certain measures, such as placing them in an isolation room, in order to avoid the spreading of the resistance. Our health promotion workers, like Amal in Gaza, spend a lot of time talking to them.

Title: Amal Abed – Health promoter
Location: Gaza, Palestine
“Many patients complain saying: ‘Why am I not continuously receiving antibiotic prescriptions? I want my wound to heal quickly’ or ‘I want my infection to decrease fast’. I always explain to them that antibiotics should only be prescribed when the body needs the support of antibiotics.”

There are many, many different types of bacteria, that all react in different ways to different antibiotics. On top of that, this may vary from one place to another. This makes antibiotic resistance a difficult issue to tackle, even in well-organised and well-equipped hospitals. Now, imagine trying to do this in a war-torn country or places recovering from violent conflict. The challenge is huge. Yet, step by step, we try very hard to do our part in the worldwide battle against antibiotic resistance.

Keywords

ABR (antibiotic resistance)

AMR (antimicrobial resistance)