New Postdoctoral Fellow in Migrant Health and Social Inequalities: Ernst Kristian Rødland

The Centre for Global Health (CGH) is pleased to announce Ernst Kristian Rødland, the new postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Health and Society (HELSAM), affiliated and supported by the CGH. Rødland will conduct research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in migrant populations, and will be an important contributor to the Migrant Health and Social Inequalities signatory area.

New Postdoctoral Fellow in Migrant Health and Social inequalities: Ernst Kristian Rødland. Photo: Anbjørg Kolaas

Migrant health and social inequalities is a signatory theme attracting research and collaborations on this topic at the CGH. Ernst Kristian Rødland, MD, PhD, is a new postdoctoral research fellow with special interest in global health, migrant medicine and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). His research focus at the institute is AMR in developing countries and in migrant populations. He has significant experience as a clinician in internal and infectious medicine, and completed his doctoral degree in immunology at the Research Institute for Internal Medicine (IIF) at the national hospital of Norway, Rikshopitalet, in 2011.      
Globalization is a complicated issue, which presents with both benefits and challenges for the entire world. For various reasons, and especially recently, we have seen huge numbers of people move from one geographic area to another. As humans and animals migrate around the globe, they become active carriers of microbes, with their great genetic diversity and either natural or acquired resistance to antimicrobial agents. The spread of antimicrobial resistance threatens the very core of modern medicine and challenges the strength and capacity of an effective global public health response to microbial infectious diseases.

Antibiotic misuse, prophylactic use, diagnostic imprecision and the spread of disease between people are key factors in the selection and dissemination of resistant bacterial strains. All these factors are exacerbated by poverty, and lack of access to clean water, sanitation and effective healthcare.

Infectious diseases do not respect borders. As resistant bacteria spread among poorer countries, it will inevitably reach the developed world. Migration of people, and therefore bacteria, is certain, and with it comes the spread of multi-resistant microbes and their consequences.

The epidemiological situation regarding AMR bacteria in many developing countries is largely unknown. Increased knowledge about this issue is of great importance both on a national level, to reduce the burden of communicable diseases, and for the international community in the efforts to control the spread of antibiotic resistant microbes.  

Published Sep. 5, 2017 1:21 PM - Last modified Feb. 9, 2022 1:38 PM