Using digital health technologies to optimise antimicrobial use globally

Area of Science:

• Digital health
• Infectious disease
• Antimicrobial resistance

Background:

• Digital health technologies (DHTs) generate and process health data.
• DHTs offer potential improvements in bacterial infection diagnosis, treatment, surveillance, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) prevention.
• Optimizing antimicrobial use is critical due to the global threat of AMR.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore bacterial AMR in humans and the need for optimized antimicrobial use.
• To describe state-of-the-art DHTs for optimizing antimicrobial prescribing globally.
• To identify fundamental data requirements for DHTs supporting optimized antimicrobial use.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of DHTs for antimicrobial use optimization.
• Analysis of data requirements for effective DHT implementation.
• Exploration of DHT applications in high-income and low-to-middle-income countries.

Main Results:

• Rapid development of DHTs for antimicrobial use optimization is occurring.
• Consensus on data requirements is needed for global DHT adoption.
• DHTs can support improved antimicrobial decision-making.

Conclusions:

• DHTs hold significant promise for combating bacterial infections and AMR.
• Standardized data requirements are essential for maximizing DHT impact.
• Further research and consensus-building are needed to guide DHT development and implementation for antimicrobial stewardship.