Goal

The project aims to develop a new framework and network of collaborators to evaluate AWaRe antibiotic book based primary care Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) interventions, with the goal of safely reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing in respiratory tract infections in primary care settings in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It seeks to establish a blueprint for pragmatic population-based trials to investigate AMS in these settings, focusing on outcome assessment and intervention development.

Lead

Prof. Michael Sharland at City St George’s, University of London in collaboration with Prof. Max Bachmann at the University of East Anglia, Dr. Koen Pouwels at Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Science, University of Oxford, Dr. Ruth Cornick at Knowledge Translation Unit, University of Cape Town and Dr. H Rogier van Doorn and the CTU team at Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) in Vietnam

Funder

The Wellcome Trust

What we are doing

Specific objectives include developing, piloting, and evaluating novel methods to measure antibiotic exposure levels, creating a locally adapted AMS educational tool for healthcare professionals based on the WHO AWaRe Book, and conducting a cluster randomised controlled trial (cRCT) across multiple countries in Africa and Asia in primary care health clinics to assess the safety and efficacy of the AWaRe-based intervention on reducing antibiotic prescribing in respiratory tract infections.

You can learn more about AWaRe1 here

Key learnings

Ongoing

Outputs

Key deliverables include open-access tools for the WHO Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System (GLASS) to monitor antibiotic exposure patterns, educational tools to improve antibiotic prescribing quality, and an established primary care network that has designed and conducted a population-based cluster RCT of AMS interventions in multiple LMICs in Asia and Africa.