Inappropriate antimicrobial use and potential solutions: a Middle Eastern perspective

Abstract

Addressing the many challenges posed by escalating antimicrobial resistance requires a strategy at institutional, community, national, regional and international levels. Partners in the development of such a strategy should include representatives from clinical and veterinary medicine, public health, microbiology, animal husbandry, the pharmaceutical and agriculture industries as well as behavioral sciences. In the Middle East, antimicrobial resistance is a crisis at the present time. It stems from a wide range of problems; however, there are few studies from this region about factors associated with proliferating resistance. In this article, we explore inappropriate antimicrobial use in this part of the world and suggest possible solutions to mitigate the problem.