Novel Approaches to Characterizing and Tracking the Global Burden of Antimicrobial Resistance (Round 17)

THE OPPORTUNITY - Increasingly, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and drug resistant infections are being recognized as a crosscutting threat to global health. High rates of resistant infections have been documented in healthcare and community settings, in all WHO regions, and for a broad range of microorganisms. Despite the global focus, considerable gaps remain in our understanding of burden and resistance patterns, including the burden of drug-resistant infections on children in the highest mortality countries in Africa and Asia. A reliable evidence base that accurately describes and characterizes the aggregate burden of AMR in low- and middle-income settings will be essential to inform global and national priority setting and to drive public health actions.

These data gaps are directly relevant to the current debate surrounding the appropriate balance of access to antimicrobials for vulnerable populations vs. excessive use in many settings. For example, pediatric mortality primarily associated with drug-susceptible infections would benefit from interventions focused on broadly increasing access to antibiotics; conversely, if drug resistant infections are disproportionately contributing to mortality, the focus would shift to judicious and selective use of antibiotics to preserve their value and better target resistant infections.

THE CHALLENGE - Our goal is to identify approaches that provide more robust and reliable evidence regarding the global scale, impact, and/or transmission dynamics of AMR, specifically as applicable to low- and middle-income settings. We also seek solutions that will provide an assessment of various drivers and the health impact of interventions on rates of resistance.

Because AMR is a complex problem with multiple interconnected drivers and our focus is on high mortality and data-poor geographies, these approaches will likely require new data streams and approaches (e.g. modeling) applied in a sufficiently robust way to lead to strategic guidance for decision-makers.

What we are looking for:

We are soliciting innovative ideas for models, tools, analytics, surveillance platforms, technologies, and other high impact approaches to generating evidence about the burden and impact of antimicrobial resistance in low and middle income settings, and improving its translation into practice. We are particularly seeking transformative and innovative approaches which identify and fill knowledge and practice gaps currently limiting progress in AMR surveillance and epidemiology.

Proposed projects should have the scope and potential to transform public health practices for AMR on a global or regional scale.

Closing Date – 11 May 2016

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