SUPERBUGS: Evolving Enemies from Ghanaian Hospitals

Ghana is a population of more than 28 million people with over 300 hospitals. Salient factors unique to this region are exposure of the population to parasitic diseases (notably malaria) and high prevalence of systemic infections, sepsis and others, these conditions influence the immune system. This in turn leads to increase in hospitalization of patients with overpopulation of especially the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and prolonged hospital stay most of the times, a situation encouraging the overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents. In Ghana, data on the diversity of bacteria and their antimicrobial (AMR) profiles in relation to environmental transmission is limited. Antimicrobial resistance is a global crisis and it is becoming increasingly important in Sub-Saharan Africa especially in the hospital, this call for an urgent research intervention. Besides, as bacteria evolve and new strains emerge, the risk of AMR in Ghanaian hospitals is unclear and the lack of the knowledge of how resistance is mediated and developed makes mitigation of spread a challenge.