Review Article

An overview of antimicrobial resistance surveillance among healthcare-associated pathogens in South Africa

Ashika Singh-Moodley, Husna Ismail, Olga Perovic
African Journal of Laboratory Medicine | Vol 7, No 2 | a741 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v7i2.741 | © 2018 Ashika Singh-Moodley, Husna Ismail, Olga Perovic | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 20 December 2017 | Published: 06 December 2018

About the author(s)

Ashika Singh-Moodley, Centre for Healthcare-associated infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa
Husna Ismail, Centre for Healthcare-associated infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa
Olga Perovic, Centre for Healthcare-associated infections, Antimicrobial Resistance and Mycoses, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Healthcare-associated infections are a serious public health concern resulting in morbidity and mortality particularly in developing countries. The lack of information from Africa, the increasing rates of antimicrobial resistance and the emergence of new resistance mechanisms intensifies this concern warranting the need for vigorous standardised surveillance platforms that produce reliable and accurate data which can be used for addressing these concerns. The implementation of national treatment guidelines, policies, antimicrobial stewardship programmes and infection prevention and control practices within healthcare institutions require a platform from which it can draw information and direct its approach. In this review, the importance of standardised surveillance systems, the challenges faced in the application of a surveillance system and the condition (existence and nonexistence) of such systems in African countries is discussed. This review also reports on some South African data.

Keywords

surveillance; healthcare associated pathogens; South Africa

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