Drug resistant infections are a global crisis and we cannot focus on our own country only. Clinical trials in low and middle income countries where the burden is highest, as well as work with local communities and engagement with policy makers help influence public health policies.

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Heiman Wertheim, MD PhD, is a clinical microbiologist at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Hanoi, Vietnam, which is based at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases. Currently, he is involved with several infectious disease research projects in Asia. His main research topics are central nervous system infections, paediatric tuberculosis, pneumonia, Klebsiella pneumoniae infections, Staphylococcus aureus infections, and antibiotic resistance. He supervises activities of the Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP) in Vietnam, which did a situation analysis on antibiotic use and resistance in Vietnam. He recently finished a large project that studied hospital acquired infections, antibiotic resistance and antibiotic use across 16 hospitals in Vietnam (Vinares study).