Digital solution to combat antimicrobial resistance
British government has joined forces with non-profit FIND to accelerate the development of digital diagnostic disease tests
The UK government’s Global Antimicrobial Resistance Innovation Fund (GAMRIF) and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a three-year project focussing on connectivity for diagnostics to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The partnership will establish a project that focuses on connecting data from patients’ diagnostic test results into national AMR surveillance programmes in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). FIND and partner bodies will produce alternative tools and new solutions to connect information from AMR related diagnostic testing of patients.
This digital information will help address the rising problem of drug-resistant infections and greatly extend the scope of existing programmes so they include routine hospital and community data.
The inappropriate use of antibiotics and other medicines is fuelling the emergence of AMR globally and is reducing the effectiveness of the few treatment options left to treat severe bacterial illnesses.
Currently, 700,000 deaths annually are due to drug-resistant strains of common bacterial infections, HIV and malaria and it is estimated that by 2050, 10 million deaths will be caused by AMR each year.
“Diagnostics are critical to tracking and monitoring diseases and the spread of drug resistance,” said Catharina Boehme, CEO of FIND, “Connecting diagnostics to surveillance systems at various levels from local to global will allow surveillance to be strengthened in LMICs – where the burden of infectious diseases is highest but data are currently limited.”
Diagnostics play a key role in containing the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. Widespread, consistent use of diagnostic tests to identify disease-causing pathogens and determine the presence of drug resistance enables healthcare professionals to provide patients with the most appropriate treatment regimens.
Data from connected diagnostics enable surveillance of drug resistance at national, regional and international levels and inform precision global health interventions.
“Supporting work on diagnostic technologies is an essential part of this and will have a key role to play in mitigating the impact of superbugs on the health and economic prosperity of the world’s poorest. This partnership will contribute to saving lives in areas of the world that are disproportionally affected by this threat,” said UK Health Minister, Steve Brine MP.
This project will further GAMRIF’s goal of fostering innovations to tackle AMR for the benefit of people in LMICs. Three workstreams will be delivered: end-to-end data transfer and reporting from point-of-care testing for AMR surveillance; a mobile phone app to enable the transfer of a range of rapid diagnostic test results for surveillance; and clinical decision aids via mobile phones, also linked to AMR surveillance systems.