Skip to 0 minutes and 11 seconds ROSANNA PEELING: Hello, and welcome to our course, The Role of Diagnostics in the Response to Anti-Microbial Resistance, or AMR for short. My name is Rosanna Peeling, and I’m your lead educator. I’m Professor of Diagnostics Research and director of the International Diagnostics Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Years of unregulated use of antibiotics and other anti-microbial medicines have led to the emergence and rapid spread of AMR. The United Nations General Assembly has declared AMR to be a global crisis. Right now, resistant infections are killing patients at the rate of one every 45 seconds. By 2050, AMR will kill a patient every three seconds. That’s why we need to take action now.
Skip to 1 minute and 9 seconds Back in 2013, the World Health Organisation issued a call to action– no action today, no cure tomorrow. Sadly, now, six years later, not many people are aware that AMR has become a global crisis. In fact, a lot of people have misconceptions about AMR. Studies show that of the people who have heard of AMR, more than 80% thought that their bodies and not the bacteria have developed resistance. We’re very concerned about the lack of teaching materials on AMR. There’s even less on the use of diagnostics in the AMR response. There are three major ways diagnostics can be used to combat AMR. First, diagnostics are critical in reducing overuse of antibiotics in clinical medicine.
Skip to 2 minutes and 6 seconds Second, diagnostics can be used to screen for resistant bacteria to prevent their spread in health care settings. Finally, diagnostics is the only way to gather data on resistance trends and be alerted to outbreaks. We have therefore developed this MOOC in partnership with Becton Dickinson and Company and experts around the world to raise awareness of the global AMR crisis, and to increase knowledge and skills on the use of diagnostics in the AMR response. Over the next six weeks, we will come together to answer questions such as, what is AMR, and how is it caused? What is the global situation, and how diagnostics can be used in the AMR response.
Skip to 3 minutes and 0 seconds We will feature videos, animations, articles, and case studies from over 25 countries around the world, and across a variety of clinical and laboratory settings. All our materials are downloadable to facilitate classroom teaching, tutorials, and in-service training in health care institutions. We anticipate a diverse group of learners. We want you to take part in the discussions, share your own knowledge, skills, and experiences about AMR and diagnostics. We’re excited to take you through this course. So let’s get started.