Modelling patient networks in LMICs to prevent AMR spread and improve surveillance

Drug-resistant bacteria are part of a major worldwide public health problem. Developing countries, such as Thailand, tend to have the biggest health problems with infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. Hospitals can be implicated in the spread of bacterial infections, and previous studies in high-income countries have shown the importance of considering how patients move between different settings when designing intervention strategies to control such infections.

I will build a computer model of a network describing patients’ movements between hospitals, using data from Thailand. I will use this model to study how network characteristics affect the build-up of drug-resistant infections in hospitals and investigate how knowledge of this network can be used to design more effective control measures and better monitoring systems.

My results will inform decisions and give new insights into the control of drug-resistant infections in Thailand and other developing countries.

This grant was awarded under the scheme’s previous name of Master’s Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine.