Nicola Foxlee is a PhD candidate in the National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health at AU, and I have had the pleasure of chatting to her about the statistics in her project on a number of occasions. Thursday 6 April, 2023 was her Exit Seminar, and over 25 people showed up online and in-person to hear the results of her years of research.
Nicola started with the context of her research, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as one of ten public health threats requiring urgent action during the next decade. Over the last few years, the devastating effects of COVID-19 have overshadowed the continuing presence of AMR. The increased use and misuse of antibiotics in human and animal health, together with inadequate infection prevention and control, environmental contamination and, the travel and carriage of infected humans and animals are factors which drive AMR.
Nicola’s PhD research focused on bacterial AMR, antibiotic resistance (ABR) in human health and optimising the use of antibiotics. The research took place in Vanuatu, a small island developing state in the south-west Pacific.
This presentation covered Ni-Vanuatu health worker’s knowledge, beliefs, and practices regarding antibiotic prescribing and awareness of ABR and the influence the COVID-19 pandemic has had on their prescribing and awareness of ABR.
The interrupted time series that I contributed to looked really good embedded in the project as a whole, and I wish Nicola all the best as she finalises her thesis by publication in the next few months. Five papers in all form the thesis, and Nicola was able to wrap them all together into a coherent set of recommendations around guidelines, surveillance, collaboration and community awareness.
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