Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) Analysis: A Lucrative Tool to Support the Control of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)

Abstract

Globally, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a real risk to people’s health. To ascertain the burden, implications, and trends of AMR and to track the results of interventions, surveillance is a crucial activity. High-quality laboratory data must be efficiently collected and shared with surveillance systems. Particularly in LMICs with high disease loads, the capacity of laboratories is being dramatically increased. Building capacity for effective laboratory data administration is still a resource-constrained issue that, if left unresolved, may hamper development toward comprehensive AMR surveillance in LMICs. The absence of an open-source, useful lab tests database is particularly concerning. In this Personal View, we present an overview of the laboratory data management practices in Lower Middle Income Countries (LMIC) laboratories, a snapshot of the technological requirements for microbiological lab data management, and a description of the critical remedial measures. Current efforts to boost capability for AMR surveillance in LMICs would not be entirely successful without strategies for upgrading information technology equipment and information management systems in microbial labs.