Adopting telemedicine in the fight against antimicrobial resistance in West Africa

IF 16.4 1区化学 Q1 CHEMISTRY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Accounts of Chemical Research Pub Date : 2024-03-23 DOI:10.1002/hpm.3799

Babatunde Jamiu Dauda, Michael Chukwubuikem Offor, Olakulehin Adebusuyi, Caleb Promise Owolabi

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Abstract

The detrimental effects of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) have called for several approaches in the fight against it in West Africa, where telemedicine is still in its infancy. In West Africa, self-medication is prevalent because the majority of these medications are easily accessible due to insufficient regulatory structures that control their production, distribution, and consumption. Also, access to healthcare facilities and professionals is limited. All of these and other inadequacies consequently result in the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant organisms. AMR, which is now a major global health crisis according to the WHO, may cause the deaths of about 10 million people before 2050, and Africa may make up 41% of these deaths, with the Western part of this continent affected the most. While several approaches have been adopted, unlike in other regions of the world, the use of telemedicine in West Africa to fight AMR has rarely been studied or considered and where it is now in partial use, its efficacy is constrained by several factors. This paper discusses the roles of telemedicine, the limitations to its application in the fight against AMR, and suggests remedies for these limitations.

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在西非采用远程医疗对抗抗菌药耐药性。

在远程医疗仍处于起步阶段的西非，抗菌药耐药性（AMR）的有害影响要求采取多种方法与之斗争。在西非，自我药疗非常普遍，因为没有足够的监管结构来控制这些药物的生产、销售和消费，所以大多数药物都很容易获得。此外，医疗保健设施和专业人员也很有限。所有这些及其他不足之处都导致了耐抗菌生物的出现。根据世界卫生组织（WHO）的数据，AMR 目前已成为全球主要的健康危机，在 2050 年前可能导致约 1000 万人死亡，其中非洲可能占 41%，而非洲大陆西部受影响最大。与世界其他地区不同的是，西非地区已经采取了多种方法，但却很少研究或考虑使用远程医疗来抗击急性呼吸道感染，即使现在部分使用了远程医疗，其效果也受到多种因素的制约。本文讨论了远程医疗的作用、其在抗击 AMR 中的应用局限性，并提出了解决这些局限性的建议。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Accounts of Chemical Research 化学-化学综合

CiteScore

31.40

自引率

1.10%

发文量

312

审稿时长

2 months

期刊介绍： Accounts of Chemical Research presents short, concise and critical articles offering easy-to-read overviews of basic research and applications in all areas of chemistry and biochemistry. These short reviews focus on research from the author’s own laboratory and are designed to teach the reader about a research project. In addition, Accounts of Chemical Research publishes commentaries that give an informed opinion on a current research problem. Special Issues online are devoted to a single topic of unusual activity and significance. Accounts of Chemical Research replaces the traditional article abstract with an article "Conspectus." These entries synopsize the research affording the reader a closer look at the content and significance of an article. Through this provision of a more detailed description of the article contents, the Conspectus enhances the article's discoverability by search engines and the exposure for the research.