Responding to the Wartime Spread of Antimicrobial-Resistant Organisms — Ukraine, 2022

In Ukraine, the confluence of high prewar rates of antimicrobial resistance, an increase in the prevalence of traumatic wounds, and the war-related strain on health care facilities is leading to increased detection of multidrug-resistant organisms with spread into Europe.

Urgent capacity building to prevent, detect, and respond to antimicrobial resistance is needed to save lives within Ukraine and limit international spread. Center for Public Health of Ukraine (UPHC) and partners are collaborating to improve laboratory detection of antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial prescribing, and infection prevention and control, starting in the Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, and Vinnytsia regions. UPHC is prioritizing interventions to strengthen infection prevention and control and the laboratory-clinical interface via multidisciplinary hospital teams, establishing routine health care–associated infections and antimicrobial resistance surveillance, utilizing guidelines and locally collected data to inform clinical care, upgrading laboratory equipment and workflows, increasing availability and use of hand-hygiene disinfectants, and providing technical training for staff members. UPHC has issued clinical guidance on indications for bacteriology testing, including to military hospitals. Partners are supporting training curricula that include clinical and laboratory twinning between international experts on antimicrobial resistance and Ukrainian clinicians and laboratorians. In addition, partners are conducting workshops for regional and hospital staff members to develop and use clinical and laboratory standard operating procedures to strengthen infection prevention and control practices and clinical management of infected patients. Lastly, partners are working to provide additional laboratory supplies to meet the increased wartime demands, to capacitate laboratories to test for bacterial susceptibility to newer-generation antibiotics, and to improve reliable hospital access to these antibiotics.