IVI and the Government of Bangladesh join forces to boost AMR response in South Asia

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18 May 2022 in Seoul, the International Vaccine Institute, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) of Bangladesh shared key findings from the Capturing data on Antimicrobial resistance Patterns and Trends in Use in Regions of Asia (CAPTURA) project.

CAPTURA is an IVI-led initiative to increase the volume and quality of data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), consumption (AMC), and use (AMU) in South and Southeast Asia. The project is funded by the Fleming Fund and managed by Mott MacDonald, the Fund’s Management Agent.

IVI is an international organisation with the mission to discover, develop, and deliver safe, effective, and affordable vaccines for global health. Led by IVI, the National Dissemination Workshop held in Dhaka reviewed the last two years of key CAPTURA activities in Bangladesh.

The research findings will help the government of Bangladesh form evidence-based policies and practices to contain AMR, which is a critical and growing threat to global public health.

The project found that:

• E. coli, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus, Salmonella Typhi and Acinetobacter spp. were the most frequently isolated bacteria
• There was no major change in susceptibility patterns in E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus in the country over the last four years
• Multidrug Resistance (MDR), possible Extensive Drug Resistance (XDR), and Pan-Drug Resistance (PDR) is prevalent and needs close monitoring to prevent potential spread
• WHO Global Priority List of Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria are also prevalent in some settings in the country
• There is a gap in internal and external quality assessment in most of the labs, which needs to be addressed to ensure validity of AMR data being generated in the country

It also resulted in the following key accomplishments:

• Identification of historical and current data on AMR, AMC, and AMU
• Collation and analysis of four years of retrospective AMR/U data from 34 laboratories (11 public and 23 private) and five pharmacies (all private model pharmacies)
• Comprehensive capacity-building activities to optimise local data management practices and encourage data sharing at the national, regional, and global levels
• More than one million records of data were identified and digitised, and where necessary, collected and analysed

Professor Dr. Ahmedul Kabir from the Directorate General of Health Services in the MOHFW, Bangladesh, commented that:

Major General Mohammad Yousuf, Director General of Drug Administration, spoke on the use of the findings:

The CAPTURA research, in collaboration with MOHFW, helped to establish guidelines for laboratory surveillance systems. The initiative provided insights that can be used by laboratories to develop a system for retaining and using data and encouraged greater collaboration between the public and private healthcare sectors.

Dr Nimesh Poudyal, Project Lead of CAPTURA, added:

CAPTURA activities in Bangladesh were completed in collaboration with the Directorate General of Health Services, Directorate General Drug Administration, and MOHFW of Bangladesh. This work was supported by the Fleming Fund Regional Grants.