Antibiotic-resistant infections a critical challenge in Middle East — MSF

AMMAN — Doctors and medical experts on Sunday highlighted the need for joint efforts to extend the lifespan of existing antibiotics and reduce the risk of infections as a life-ending health issue with heavy costs.

Participants at the first Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) conference in Jordan, which opened on Sunday, are discussing the prevention and treatment of multi-drug resistant infections as a global public health issue with an increasing urgency in the Middle East.

Marc Schakal, MSF head of mission in Jordan and Iraq, said the organisation — within its recent humanitarian work in Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Pakistan with patients injured in wars and refugees — has documented high levels of multi-drug resistant infectious pathogens.

“Antibiotic-resistant infections represent a critical medical challenge in the Middle East that undermines patient outcomes and increases cost of care,” he said.

Since 2006, MSF has provided specialised medical care to over 3,200 patients through its project in Amman, Schakal noted.

“Over half of the patients admitted to the Amman project arrived with multi-drug resistant infections; each infection needs at least one or two surgical procedures,” he said at the opening of the two-day MSF conference.

Health Ministry Secretary General Daifallah Lozi said the ministry has taken measures to eliminate antibiotic-resistant infections by approving regulations that curb the use of antibiotics, in addition to spreading awareness among doctors and the public on the correct use of antibiotics.

The excessive use of antibiotics reduces the effectiveness of the drug and the bacteria continue to multiply.

The ministry works on improving its preventive actions of antibiotic-resistant infections through special committees and medical centres, in addition to continued support for national vaccination campaigns, Lozi noted.

A study conducted in 2011 by the World Health Organisation and the local health sector showed that approximately 57 per cent of patients who go to public hospitals and 56 per cent of those who go to private hospitals are prescribed antibiotics.

The conference, titled “Antibiotic Resistance in the Middle East: Lessons Learned in the Prevention and Treatment of Multidrug-resistant Infections”, brings together over 80 experts in infection control from all over the world, including participants from Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt, the UAE, Yemen, France, Switzerland, the US and India, according to its organisers.

MSF is an independent international medical and humanitarian organisation, which delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural or man-made disasters all over the world.

A recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 and the King Hussein Foundation Humanitarian Leadership Prize in 2004, MSF provides its service in 19 national offices and an international headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.