Antibiotic resistant healthcare associated infections present a real and serious threat to human health worldwide. However, the totality of the health and economic burden posed by such infections remains unquantified. A metric by which to measure the totality of the burden of antibiotic resistance - necessary to communicate the extent of the issue e.g. to policy-makers, and to evaluate the impact of interventions - does not exist.
This project will use a unique national database of infection and resistance data to quantify the burden of resistant bacterial infections across England and devise a novel ‘Resistance Index’ measuring the burden of resistance across bacteria and infection types. Understanding the health and economic impact of resistance, and therefore the monetary value of prevention, will allow cost-effectiveness evaluations of alternative intervention strategies to be performed. The project therefore has the potential to inform decision-making and policy in this high priority area.

The PhD supervisors are based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, St George's University London and Public Health England. The successful applicant will gain experience working with mathematical modellers, economists, AMR subject area experts from a variety of disciplines as well as policy-makers.

Project specifics can be found at: http://mrc-lid.lshtm.ac.uk/files/2018/11/Jit-Sharland-iCASE.pdf