How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect antibiotic consumption within humanitarian emergencies? Results from five humanitarian contexts.

Introduction: Both high- and low-income countries reported increased antibiotic consumption among COVID-19 patients during the first months of the pandemic. To date, however, no studies have examined changes in antibiotic consumption during the COVID-19 pandemic within humanitarian emergency contexts.

Method: Data was collected by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for the years 2018-2021 across the following humanitarian settings: Afghanistan (Lashkar Gah), Bangladesh (Kutupalong), the Democratic Republic of Congo (Mweso and Baraka), and South Sudan (Bentiu).

Antibiotic consumption in hospitals in humanitarian settings in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is of great global public health concern. In order to address the paucity of antibiotic consumption data and antimicrobial resistance surveillance systems in hospitals in humanitarian settings, we estimated antibiotic consumption in six hospitals with the aim of developing recommendations for improvements in antimicrobial stewardship programs.

Methods: Six hospitals supported by Médecins sans Frontières were included in the study: Boost-Afghanistan, Kutupalong-Bangladesh, Baraka and Mweso-Democratic Republic of Congo, Kule-Ethiopia, and Bentiu-South Sudan.

Predicting changes in land use/land cover and seasonal land surface temperature using multi-temporal landsat images in the northwest region of Bangladesh.

Land use/land cover (LULC) variations are accelerated by rapid urbanization and significantly impacted global Land Surface Temperature (LST). The dynamic increase in LST results in the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. In this study, future LULC change scenarios, seasonal (summer & winter) LST variations, and LST distribution over different LULC classes were predicted using Landsat satellite images for 1999, 2009, and 2019 in Rajshahi District, Bangladesh.

A Nosocomial Outbreak of Clinical Sepsis in a Neonatal Care Unit (NCU) in Port-Au-Prince Haiti, July 2014 - September 2015.

Introduction: Between July 2014 and September 2015, a neonatal care unit (NCU) in Port Au Prince, Haiti, experienced an outbreak of sepsis, most probably due to nosocomial transmission of Extended Beta Lactamase (ESBL) producing gram negative bacteria, included Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Methods: We describe the epidemiological and microbiological activities performed as part of the outbreak investigation and the control measures implemented throughout this period.

Results: During the study period 257 cases of sepsis were reported, of which 191 died.

Infectious Disease Risk and Vaccination in Northern Syria after 5 Years of Civil War: The MSF Experience.

Introduction: In 2015, following an influx of population into Kobanê in northern Syria, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in collaboration with the Kobanê Health Administration (KHA) initiated primary healthcare activities. A vaccination coverage survey and vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) risk analysis were undertaken to clarify the VPD risk and vaccination needs. This was followed by a measles Supplementary Immunization Activity (SIA).