3 An introduction to AMR surveillance: local, national and global systems

AMR data are collected at local, national and global levels and provide information on local, national, regional and global trends. Figure 4 illustrates how AMR data (which can include hospital patient samples, veterinary samples, animal product samples for food safety or environmental samples) might flow between these three levels, and where the feedback, typically comprising appropriately summarised information, should occur. Depending on the surveillance results there may also be some strategic interventions that are fed back from the national or global levels to the local levels.

Figure 4 An overview of a comprehensive AMR surveillance network.

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An image of an AMR surveillance network. Local hospital veterinary, food safety and environmental laboratories all gather samples. This research feeds into national policy, and national policies feed into global policy. Information flow goes from local to national to global, and feedback goes from global to national to local.

Figure 4 An overview of a comprehensive AMR surveillance network.

Although progress in developing national and global surveillance systems is greatest in the human (healthcare) sector, it is important to remember that AMR-related surveillance systems are being developed and implemented in other sectors, as you learned in Section 2.3.

In the following sections you will look at some of the features of local, national and global surveillance systems.