CDC makes moves to fill global gaps in fighting antimicrobial resistance
The CDC announced $22 million in awards and the launch of two programs that will focus on preventing and combating antimicrobial-resistant infections.
According to the CDC, these networks the Global Action in Healthcare Network (GAIHN) and the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory and Response Network and funding will benefit nearly 30 organizations and 50 countries.
“In a nutshell, we can be doing more, as a global community, to save lives from antimicrobial resistance and other infectious disease threats,” Michael Craig, MPP, who leads the CDC’s antimicrobial resistance coordination and strategy, told Healio.
“In detail, the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory and Response Network is inspired by the 2.8 million people who get an antimicrobial-resistant infection in the U.S. each year, and the 35,000 people who don’t survive it — plus millions more abroad,” Craig said.
According to Craig, the need for the Global Action in Healthcare Network was “surely evident during the COVID-19 pandemic.” However, the inspiration to build it started earlier when global threats like Ebola emerged.
“We’ve only recently been able to support these important networks with limited funding to get them off the ground,” Craig said. “CDC has long been working with partners to stop threats globally. These networks ensure collaboration, minimize duplication and maximize advancements to stop these urgent threats.”
According to the CDC, the two new networks — paired with additional short-term research projects — will build programs that focus on preventing infections in health care, build laboratory capacity to detect antimicrobial-resistant organisms in health care, the community and environment, and will help develop new and innovative ways to detect and respond to threats like antimicrobial resistance and COVID-19 more rapidly.
Craig said this would include threats such a Candida auris and many others that could cause patient clusters or pandemics. He added that the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory and Response Network will not detect SARS-CoV-2, but GAIHN will respond with infection prevention as COVID-19 infections occur or are treated within health care facilities.
“We can’t stop a threat we aren’t aware of,” Craig said. “These investments across more than 50 countries [are] important steps in the right direction to combat antimicrobial resistance and health care threats.”
In addition to the two networks, the CDC awarded funding to nearly 30 organizations around the world to help bolster research projects. According to the CDC, the organizations receiving funding include the American Society for Microbiology, the Association of Public Health Laboratories, Columbia University, Duke University, Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, the Pan American Health Organization, The Ohio State University, the University of Pennsylvania, Vanderbilt University, Washington State University, Washington University in St. Louis and WHO.
According to Craig, these programs and funding are important to the fight against emerging infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance because even if patients survive threats like antibiotic-resistant infections or COVID-19, the impacts can be “long lasting and devastating.”
“With these networks, we’re establishing sentinel sites that can respond rapidly before threats have the chance to spread like wildfire across the globe,” Craig said. “We will be successful because of our strong partnerships with these nearly 30 partners and because we’re leveraging proven, simple public health techniques — rapid detection and infection prevention and control — that have been successful time and again.”
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CDC launches two global networks, awards $22 million to combat antimicrobial resistance and infectious diseases. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/p1207-global-action-healthcare-network.html. Published Dec. 7, 2021. Accessed Dec. 8, 2021.
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