Medics ‘flying blind’ in fight against superbugs due to patchy diagnostics

First comprehensive survey of Africa’s resources to tackle Anti-microbial resistance finds serious lack of laboratory capacity and testing.

Doctors and nurses in Africa battling the rise of deadly superbugs are effectively flying blind because of patchy monitoring and lab testing, new research warns.

Anti-microbial resistance (AMR) kills as many as 1.4m people worldwide each year, with African countries thought to bear the highest burden from an escalating global problem.

The scale of the crisis has led the World Health Organization to declare AMR one of its top health priorities, with many doctors worried it poses one of the biggest health challenges of this century.

Yet the first comprehensive survey of Africa’s resources to tackle the menace has found a serious lack of laboratory capacity and testing needed to keep tabs on infections and the rise of resistant germs.

Effective Surveillance   Back