Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Reference Laboratory, Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Department of Health, Manila, Philippines.
These authors contributed equally.
Western Pac Surveill Response J. 2022 Aug 25;13(3):1-6. doi: 10.5365/wpsar.2022.13.3.917. eCollection 2022 Jul-Sep.
Operation of the Philippine Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program (ARSP) has been affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, during which time difficulties in maintaining laboratory functions, staffing levels and participation were reported.
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased pressure on most health systems and programmes in the Philippines, including ARSP. As ARSP is the source of national data on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) trends, there are concerns that the negative effects of the pandemic may have impacted the quality of data produced.
We describe disruptions to laboratory operations, personnel availability and participation in ARSP surveillance, and their impact on reported data for 2020.
Surveillance operations were challenged by reallocation of human, infrastructure and financial resources for pandemic response among both the sentinel sites and the coordinating laboratory, the Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Reference Laboratory. There was a decrease in the amount of data submitted to the surveillance system, as well as in the number of isolates sent to the reference laboratory for confirmation of bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Nevertheless, overall performance scores of the sentinel sites for most parameters were comparable to 2019, the year before the pandemic.
The impact of operational changes to ARSP due to the pandemic needs to be considered when analysing AMR surveillance data from 2020. Automation of data submission, good working relationships between the coordinating laboratory and sentinel sites, and supply chain system strengthening were identified as key to maintaining AMR surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
由于 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行，菲律宾抗菌药物耐药性监测计划（ARSP）的运行受到影响，在此期间，据报告在维持实验室功能、人员配置水平和参与方面存在困难。
COVID-19 大流行增加了菲律宾大多数卫生系统和计划的压力，包括 ARSP。由于 ARSP 是全国抗菌药物耐药性（AMR）趋势数据的来源，人们担心大流行的负面影响可能会影响所产生数据的质量。
我们描述了实验室运作、人员可用性和参与 ARSP 监测方面的中断及其对 2020 年报告数据的影响。
监测行动受到以下因素的挑战：用于大流行应对的人力、基础设施和财政资源在哨点和协调实验室（抗菌药物耐药性监测参考实验室）之间的重新分配。提交给监测系统的数据量以及发送到参考实验室进行细菌鉴定和抗菌药物敏感性测试确认的分离物数量均有所减少。尽管如此，大多数参数的哨点总体绩效得分与大流行前一年的 2019 年相当。
在分析 2020 年的 AMR 监测数据时，需要考虑大流行对 ARSP 运营变化的影响。数据提交的自动化、协调实验室和哨点之间的良好工作关系以及供应链系统的加强被确定为在 COVID-19 大流行期间维持 AMR 监测的关键。
