Global standard needed for antibiotic stewardship to halt resistance, say experts

Antibiotic stewardship teams are essential for combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but there is a need for a global standard in terms of funding and core stewardship activities, according to experts writing in Clinical Microbiology and Infection (online, 1 August 2017)^[1]
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In the commentary, the experts highlight that despite the importance of antibiotic stewardship teams in optimising the management of infections, they remain understaffed, or even non-existent in most countries, and, where they do exist, they tend to be focused in hospitals, even though most antibiotics are prescribed in the community.

They recommend that to protect new antibiotics when they come to market, future stewardship activity needs to have its own funding stream to ensure that experts in stewardship, who can range from infectious disease specialists and clinical microbiologists to pharmacists, are employed and have time to dedicate to their task.

There also needs to be a global list of activities and a list of basic resources for antibiotic stewardship programmes to function properly, they said.