About Me
Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Rashid
(PhD, AFHEA)
Project Lead
Project information
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability which enables bacterial pathogens to survive despite the antibiotic treatment. In recent years misuse and over-prescription of antibiotics have resulted in this phenomenon becoming a pandemic lurking in the shadows.
On the directives of WHO the Government of Pakistan adopted the National Antimicrobial Resistance Action Plan in 2017. This plan emphasizes the need for development of an integrated antimicrobial surveillance system for monitoring of AMR situation in the country. Contemporary surveillance and reporting systems which collect, analyse, and report the antibiotic resistance data do not provide a complete picture of the spread of resistance in developing countries. These systems lack the capabilities of real-time data collection and analysis of the resistance data from remote healthcare setups and diagnostic labs.
- SMART is Pakistan’s first cloud based active AMR surveillance system. It has been designed in accordance with WHO guidelines.
- SMART can issue early warning alerts for resistance epidemics in any locality, community and/or healthcare setup(s) associated with this system.
- SMART provides free access to updated CLSI resistance breakpoint to its users and provides a national platform for standardized reporting output based on WHO guidelines.
- SMART is designed to cater to the needs of AMR surveillance in LMICs which lack appropriate resources and infrastructure particularly in remote areas.
This system enables the researchers to not only estimate the resistance inclinations and the physicians in prescribing more effective antimicrobial treatment options but will also allow them to predict the future resistance trends.
Future Research
Currently we are working on an AI powered resistance prediction model which will rely upon easily available clinical data (collected through our existing system) and automate the entire process to eliminate the chances of human error from the process of antibiotic susceptibility phenotypic data.
The proposed AI integration and functionalities
Funding & Support
SMART was initially developed with funding from Office for Research, Innovation & Commercialization, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, Pakistan (FaRe Grant project; KMU/ORIC/FARE/IBMS/016).