Making the most of malaria chemoprevention.

Against a backdrop of stalled progress in malaria control, it is surprising that the various forms of malaria chemoprevention are not more widely used. The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended several malaria chemoprevention strategies, some of them for over a decade, and each with documented efficacy and cost effectiveness. In 2022, the WHO updated and augmented its malaria chemoprevention guidelines to facilitate their wider use. This paper considers new insights into the empirical evidence that supports the broader application of chemoprevention and encourages its application as a default strategy for young children living in moderate to high transmission settings given their high risk of severe disease and death. Chemoprevention is an effective medium-term strategy with potential benefits far outweighing costs. There is a strong argument for urgently increasing malaria chemoprevention in endemic countries.

Modeling geographic vaccination strategies for COVID-19 in Norway.

Vaccination was a key intervention in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic globally. In early 2021, Norway faced significant regional variations in COVID-19 incidence and prevalence, with large differences in population density, necessitating efficient vaccine allocation to reduce infections and severe outcomes. This study explored alternative vaccination strategies to minimize health outcomes (infections, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, deaths) by varying regions prioritized, extra doses prioritized, and implementation start time. Using two models (individual-based and meta-population), we simulated COVID-19 transmission during the primary vaccination period in Norway, covering the first 7 months of 2021. We investigated alternative strategies to allocate more vaccine doses to regions with a higher force of infection. We also examined the robustness of our results and highlighted potential structural differences between the two models. Our findings suggest that early vaccine prioritization could reduce COVID-19 related health outcomes by 8% to 20% compared to a baseline strategy without geographic prioritization. For minimizing infections, hospitalizations, or ICU admissions, the best strategy was to initially allocate all available vaccine doses to fewer high-risk municipalities, comprising approximately one-fourth of the population. For minimizing deaths, a moderate level of geographic prioritization, with approximately one-third of the population receiving doubled doses, gave the best outcomes by balancing the trade-off between vaccinating younger people in high-risk areas and older people in low-risk areas. The actual strategy implemented in Norway was a two-step moderate level aimed at maintaining the balance and ensuring ethical considerations and public trust. However, it did not offer significant advantages over the baseline strategy without geographic prioritization. Earlier implementation of geographic prioritization could have more effectively addressed the main wave of infections, substantially reducing the national burden of the pandemic.

Can Geographically Targeted Vaccinations Be Ethically Justified? The Case of Norway During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This article discusses the fairness of geographically targeted vaccinations (GTVs). During the initial period of local and global vaccine scarcity, health authorities had to enact priority-setting strategies for mass vaccination campaigns against COVID-19. These strategies have in common that priority setting was based on personal characteristics, such as age, health status or profession. However, in 2021, an alternative to this strategy was employed in some countries, particularly Norway. In these countries, vaccine allocation was also based on the epidemiological situations in different regions, and vaccines were assigned based on local incidence rates. The aim of this article is to describe and examine how a geographical allocation mechanism may work by considering Norway as a case study and discuss what ethical issues may arise in this type of priority setting. We explain three core concepts: priority setting, geographical priority setting and GTVs. With a particular focus on Norway, we discuss the potential effects of GTV, the public perception of such a strategy, and if GTV can be considered a fair strategy. We conclude that the most reasonable defence of GTV seems to be through a consequentialist account that values both total health outcomes and more equal outcomes.

Antimicrobial Resistance Policy Protagonists and Processes-A Qualitative Study of Policy Advocacy and Implementation.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) fundamentally weakens societal foundations economically and in health care. The development of well-considered policies against AMR is important. However, in many places, AMR policy implementation remains elusive. This study aims to identify enablers and deterrents as well as processes and conditions in AMR policy advocacy. It also aims to identify AMR implementation conditions where AMR national policies are adopted and, to a certain extent, formulated and implemented. This study adopts qualitative research methodology and applies the Grounded Theory Framework to identify thematic findings from interviews conducted in China, Japan, Norway, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States of America (US). It was identified that AMR policy protagonists are critical to filtering AMR issues and identifying policies "fit to prioritize" and "fit to implement". They have helped move policy prioritization needles in the UK and the US and engaged in diplomatic efforts in the UK. In these cases, no clientelism was considered. In the US, protagonists who talked to the right decision-makers in the right office at the right time both moved AMR issues from individuals to institutional agenda and from social norms to policy agenda. To conclude, there are three thematic policy conditions that are significant to AMR policy advocacy and implementation: committed personal championship, institutionalization of policies, and social norms facilitate AMR policy advocacy and implementation.

National action to combat AMR: a One-Health approach to assess policy priorities in action plans.

Little is known about the overall trend and prioritisations of past and current antimicrobial resistance (AMR) policies. Here we introduce a quantitative method to analyse AMR policies. The AMR-Policy Analysis Coding Toolkit (AMR-PACT) uses several categorical variables. Thirteen AMR action plans from five countries (China, Japan, Norway, the UK and the USA) were used to develop the tool and identify possible values for each variable. The scope and capability of AMR-PACT is demonstrated through the 2015 WHO's Global Action Plan and 2017 Hong Kong AMR Action Plan (HKAP). Majority of policies were aimed at either human or animal sector with less attention given to the environment, plant or food sector. Both plans shared the same two strategic focus areas, namely the conservation of antibiotics and the improved surveillance of resistance. There were no policies dedicated to improving access to antibiotics in the HKAP. These empirical results provide useful insights into the priorities and gaps of AMR policies. The method proposed here can help understand countries' priorities regarding AMR, support the creation of AMR policy database and foster innovative policymaking.

Evaluating the risks of public health programs: Rational antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance.

Existing ethical frameworks for public health provide insufficient guidance on how to evaluate the risks of public health programs that compromise the best clinical interests of present patients for the benefit of others. Given the relevant similarity of such programs to clinical research, we suggest that insights from the long-standing debate about acceptable risk in clinical research can helpfully inform and guide the evaluation of risks posed by public health programs that compromise patients' best clinical interests. We discuss how lessons learned regarding the ethics of risk in one context can be fruitfully transferred to the other, using the example of a so-called 'rational antibiotic use' guideline that limits antimicrobial prescribing in order to curb antimicrobial resistance.

[Rational use of antibiotics as an ethical challenge]. / Rationaler Antibiotikaeinsatz als ethische Herausforderung.

Antibiotics resistance presents one of the major challenges for health care in the twenty-first century. This paper examines the ethical problems that arise as a result of antibiotic resistance. Two main categories of ethical problems in infectious disease control are distinguished: those that are exacerbated by antibiotics resistance, and those that are a direct result of antibiotics resistance. The second category, which is considered in greater detail in this paper, includes, among others, issues of fair distribution of effective antibiotics, if they are considered a scarce resource. Of particular interest in this context is the concept of the rational use of antibiotics, which can have different ethical implications depending on its definition: either merely the elimination of antibiotics use that is not medically indicated, or a further limitation of antibiotics use to exclude treatment that only generates small benefits. The paper examines how a more far-reaching limitation can be justified with the aid of an analogy from the field of research ethics, and finally makes concrete suggestions of ways in which normative decisions can be taken into consideration in the prescription process for antibiotics.

Tackling anti-microbial resistance: ethical framework for rational antibiotic use.

Background: To reduce the effect of antimicrobial resistance and to preserve antibiotic effectiveness, clinical guidelines and health policy documents call for the rational use of antibiotics, which aims to reduce unnecessary or minimally effective antibiotic use. Methods: Through ethical analysis, we show that rational use programmes can lead to ethical conflicts, because they sometimes place patients at risk of harm-for example, a delayed switch to second-line antibiotics for community-acquired pneumonia can lead to substantial increases in mortality. Results: Implementing the rational use of antibiotics can lead to conflicts between promoting patients' clinical interests and preserving antibiotic effectiveness for future use. The resulting ethical dilemma for clinicians, patients and policy makers has so far not been adequately addressed. Conclusions: Existing guidance for acceptable risks in clinical research can help to define risk thresholds for the rational use of antibiotics. We develop an ethical framework that allows clinicians and policy-makers to evaluate policies for rational antibiotic use in six practical steps. This framework can help guide clinical practice and health policy.

Antimicrobial resistance-a threat to the world's sustainable development.

This commentary examines how specific sustainable development goals (SDGs) are affected by antimicrobial resistance and suggests how the issue can be better integrated into international policy processes. Moving beyond the importance of effective antibiotics for the treatment of acute infections and health care generally, we discuss how antimicrobial resistance also impacts on environmental, social, and economic targets in the SDG framework. The paper stresses the need for greater international collaboration and accountability distribution, and suggests steps towards a broader engagement of countries and United Nations agencies to foster global intersectoral action on antimicrobial resistance.

Exploring the evidence base for national and regional policy interventions to combat resistance.

The effectiveness of existing policies to control antimicrobial resistance is not yet fully understood. A strengthened evidence base is needed to inform effective policy interventions across countries with different income levels and the human health and animal sectors. We examine three policy domains-responsible use, surveillance, and infection prevention and control-and consider which will be the most effective at national and regional levels. Many complexities exist in the implementation of such policies across sectors and in varying political and regulatory environments. Therefore, we make recommendations for policy action, calling for comprehensive policy assessments, using standardised frameworks, of cost-effectiveness and generalisability. Such assessments are especially important in low-income and middle-income countries, and in the animal and environmental sectors. We also advocate a One Health approach that will enable the development of sensitive policies, accommodating the needs of each sector involved, and addressing concerns of specific countries and regions.

The Ethical Significance of Antimicrobial Resistance.

In this paper, we provide a state-of-the-art overview of the ethical challenges that arise in the context of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which includes an introduction to the contributions to the symposium in this issue. We begin by discussing why AMR is a distinct ethical issue, and should not be viewed purely as a technical or medical problem. In the second section, we expand on some of these arguments and argue that AMR presents us with a broad range of ethical problems that must be addressed as part of a successful policy response to emerging drug resistance. In the third section, we discuss how some of these ethical challenges should be addressed, and we argue that this requires contributions from citizens, ethicists, policy makers, practitioners and industry. We conclude with an overview of steps that should be taken in moving forward and addressing the ethical problems of AMR.

Is Antimicrobial Resistance a Slowly Emerging Disaster?

The problem of antimicrobial resistance is so dire that people are predicting that the era of antibiotics may be coming to an end, ushering in a 'post-antibiotic' era. A comprehensive policy response is therefore urgently needed. A part of this response will require framing the problem in such a way that adequately reflects its nature as well as encompassing an approach that has the best prospect of success. This paper considers framing the problem as a slowly emerging disaster, including its potential benefits and difficulties, from a conceptual and policy perspective.

Antibiotic resistance: An ethical challenge.

In this paper, we argue that antibiotic resistance (ABR) raises a number of ethical problems that have not yet been sufficiently addressed. We outline four areas in which ethical issues that arise in relation to ABR are particularly pressing. First, the emergence of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant infections exacerbates traditional ethical challenges of infectious disease control, such as the restriction of individual liberty for the protection of the public's health. Second, ABR raises issues of global distributive justice, both with regard to the overuse and lack of access to antibiotics. Third, the use of antibiotics in veterinary medicine raises serious concerns for animal welfare and sustainable farming practices. Finally, the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics leads to questions about intergenerational justice and our responsibility for the wellbeing of future generations. We suggest that current policy discussions should take ethical conflicts into account and engage openly with the challenges that we outline in this paper.

How high is a high risk? Prioritising high-risk individuals in an influenza pandemic.

Pandemic contingency plans frequently define priority groups that are given preferential access to influenza vaccine. One of the most commonly named groups for prioritisation is that of high-risk individuals. However, current models of categorisation are unsatisfactory in a number of ways. It will be argued that existing vaccination strategies fail to adequately define what kind of risks are being considered and how, as well as on the basis of which information, these risks are calculated. Moreover, it will be suggested that existing vaccination strategies fail to specify of what magnitude a risk has to be, in order to be categorised as 'high'. Finally, it shall be argued that a mere focus on the size of a risk factor may lead policy makers to overlook underlying concerns of distributive justice.

Lack of proportionality. Seven specifications of public interest that override post-approval commercial interests on limited access to clinical data.

For the protection of commercial interests, licensing bodies such as the EMA and health technology assessment institutions such as NICE restrict full access to unpublished evidence. Their respective policies on data transparency, however, lack a systematic account of (1) what kinds of commercial interests remain relevant after market approval has been granted, (2) what the specific types of public interest are that may override these commercial interests post approval, and, most importantly, (3) what criteria guide the trade-off between public interest and legitimate measures for the protection of commercial interest. Comparing potential commercial interests with seven specifications of relevant public interest reveals the lack of proportionality inherent in the current practices of EMA and NICE.