VALUE-Dx is focused on demonstrating the value of diagnostics to combat antimicrobial resistance by optimizing antibiotic use within Europe. If we want to tackle anti-microbial resistance (AMR), we need to ensure that antibiotics are only used when absolutely necessary. However, data shows that in Europe, 30-50% of antibiotics are prescribed unnecessarily. Greater use of diagnostic tests could help to bring this figure down by ensuring that doctors only prescribe antibiotics when absolutely necessary. However, the wider use of diagnostic tests in healthcare is hampered by a lack of insight into their medical, technological and health economical value. In addition, our knowledge about the barriers to their use remains limited. The goal of VALUE-Dx is to generate evidence on the medical, economic, and public health value of diagnostics in treating AMR. To that end, VALUE-Dx will focus its research on community care, which includes medical clinics (including general practice, urgent care centres, accident and emergency and other acute services in hospitals, paediatric care centres, and rehabilitation and long-term care facilities), both in and out of office hours care. lnnovative diagnostics could indeed transform clinical care, especially in community care settings where the majority of antibiotics are prescribed, by reducing uncertainty about potential benefit antibiotics may offer to individuals. Though VALUE-Dx will focus on diagnostic strategies relevant to reducing AMR in Community-Acquired Acute Respiratory Tract lnfections (CA-ARTI), the project’s findings are likely to be relevant for other common infections, including urinary tract infections, blood stream infections, and respiratory tract infections acquired in hospitals. Ultimately, VALUE-Dx should help to transform medical practice by making it easier for doctors to deliver personalized, evidence-based antibiotic prescriptions thanks to the use of innovative diagnostic strategies.
