Registration is now open for the “Role of Diagnostics in the AMR Response.” The massive open online course (MOOC), developed by The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in partnership with Becton Dickinson and Company, is free to anyone with an internet connection. The African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) joins this partnership to increase access to training and certification and drive workforce development on the continent that can meet the challenge of AMR.
Beginning in February 2020, the course will feature translations of key content into French, Spanish and Portuguese, allowing more people to learn about this emerging global crisis in their native language, so that they can take action in the fight against AMR. The MOOC begins on February 10, 2020, but you can register online now by following this link:
https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/role-of-diagnostics-in-the-amr-response/1
Why is AMR so dangerous?
Years of unrestricted use of antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines have created a ticking time bomb that threatens all of modern medicine. Without effective antibiotics, things like routine surgery, childbirth, cancer and diabetes therapy will become high risk. AMR currently kills 70,000 patients a year. By 2050 that figure will become 10 million. Resistant infections require more expensive drugs, long stays in hospitals and will push another 28 million people into poverty.
Did You Know...
Every year in the United States 40 million patients are prescribed antibiotics for respiratory infections, but only 13 million of those patients actually need them. Without proper diagnostic tools and better education, the overuse of antibiotics will continue to grow and antimicrobial resistance will kill millions.
How Does the MOOC Work?
“The Role of Diagnostics in the AMR Response” is a six-week course, requiring only 2-4 hours of learning per week. Designed for flexible learning, the course is developed by faculty from all over the world and answers the question of what is AMR, how is it caused, and the role diagnostics can play in the fight against AMR. It features a wide range of online media such as video and audio lectures, articles, animations and case studies from more than 25 countries and across a variety of clinical and laboratory settings. Learners will also benefit from an interactive discussion forum where they can share their experience with other learners from around the world and pose questions to experts. “The internet and modern learning tools like MOOCs allow us to reach people in every corner of the world in a way we were never able to before,” says Professor Rosanna Peeling of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “That ability to reach a global audience is the key to stopping AMR before we lose our ability to control infections,” she concluded.
