First Peruvian edition of the AIM course organised by IMTAvH & ITM

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a rising public health threat worldwide. Countries must ensure robust national action plans to tackle AMR, improving surveillance and control, strengthening AMR programmes. The course “Contención de la resistencia antimicrobiana y control des infecciones”, the Peruvian version of ITM's AIM course (Hospital-based interventions to contain antibiotic resistance in low-resource settings), has been organised for the first time by the Instituto de Medicine Tropical Alexander von Humboldt (IMTAvH) in Peru, in close collaboration with ITM, during 10-26 August.

The IMTAvH offered 81 scholarships to healthcare professionals working in Peruvian hospitals to attend the course. Sixty-one (75.3%)  participants completed the course; they represent healthcare professionals from 38 different hospitals of 15 regions of Peru. Among them, 52.5% were women.  

This distance learning course has provided synchronous and asynchronous classes, divided in 8 sessions, focusing on 3 main areas: Antimicrobial Stewardship, Microbiology Surveillance, and Infection Prevention and Control.  Lectures have been facilitated by Peruvian teaching staff from IMTAvH, colleagues from other Latin-American countries and a good representative of ITM lecturers, including Prof. Jan Jacobs’ team. The Alliance for Education in Tropical Medicine and International Public Health has supported this 1st edition of the Peruvian AIM-course by facilitating the virtual staff mobility of  IPC consultant An Caluwaerts and PhD dr. Ernestina Repetto.