The conference participants agreed that antibiotic resistant infections constitute a serious threat to public health in the region. There was consensus that, to counter this challenge, decision makers and practitioners in all sectors should make greater efforts to find and implement solutions.

“We need to establish a network of experts to fight against antibiotic resistance,” said Professor Timothy Walsh, professor of medical microbiology and antibiotic resistance at Park Hospital, Wales, who was a participant at the conference. “Networks like this currently don’t exist in the region.”

In Jordan, MSF has been experiencing the challenge presented by multidrug resistance and MDR bacteria in its surgical project in Amman, since it opened in 2006. The project offers reconstructive surgical care for war-wounded patients from the region in three surgical specialties: maxillofacial, orthopedic and plastic surgery, and has provided specialized surgical care for over 3,200 cases so far. Over half of patients admitted to the Amman project with maxillofacial and orthopedic injuries arrive with a multidrug-resistant infection. Each infection means at least one or two surgical excision procedures, followed by a 6-week course of antibiotics. Meanwhile, at MSF’s emergency trauma project in Al Ramtha Ministry of Health Hospital, teams also confront the challenge of preventing and treating resistant infections.

Marc Schakal, MSF Head of Mission for Jordan and Iraq said “this conference represented a start for the establishment of a network of experts in the region, which we hope will lead to practical steps towards meeting the challenge of antibiotic resistance in this part of the world. However, the need for a follow-up platform is essential to ensure that these discussions continue.”