Some 220 professionals from countries of the Americas completed the second edition of the Pan American Health Organization's Course on Implementation and Strengthening of Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) Programs, hosted at the Virtual Campus for Public Health. This educational initiative was designed to provide health professionals with the tools they need for planning, implementing, and monitoring activities to optimize antimicrobial use in hospitals.
The 12-week course included six modules on: (1) Introduction to the problem of bacterial resistance; (2) General and organizational aspects of AMS programs; (3) Microbiological and pharmacological aspects; (4) Education and use of information technology in AMS programs; (5) Other elements essential for the development of AMS programs, and (6) AMS programs and COVID-19: Approach to comprehensive disease management.
The course was aimed at directors, managers, and health professionals (doctors, pharmacists, biochemists, microbiologists, and nurses) whose work is related to the use of antimicrobials in health institutions.
This initiative is part of the project "Working together to fight antimicrobial resistance", implemented with support from the European Union, in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).