Capacity building for developing and implementing a one-health AMR surveillance plan
November 2021: Co-director of the University of Edinburgh Fleming Fund fellowship schemes, spoke about fellowship work in Uganda, Malawi and Kenya to the Wellcome Trust Third Call to Action on AMR conference.
Adrian Muwonge, co-director of the Fleming Fund Fellowship Schemes at the University of Edinburgh spoke about the project on 15 November 2021, sharing the progress, achievement and challenges of this work in Uganda, Malawi and Kenya.
Implementation of AMR national action plans
Most African countries have rapidly developed national action plans (NAPs) to meet the pressing global public health priority of reducing antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
However, this has been carried out with limited data leaving uncertainty in the effectiveness of NAPs, and whether they can be implemented effectively and evaluated consistently within and between countries.
To fill this gap, the University of Edinburgh, has been providing capacity building for nominated individuals from participating institutions in the three countries.
The capacity building aims to train the fellows to design the one health surveillance strategies including but not limited to AMR diagnostics and Antimicrobial stewardship. In so doing, we nurture a regional network of AMR professionals to support the delivery of the NAPs.
Design of One Health surveillance strategies
Through the fellowships, a blueprint for a one-health surveillance plan in Uganda was designed and tested. The model involved a two-way approach, with a hospital-initiated tracing system back into communities and a community-initiated system tracing back into the hospital.
The pilot brought together six fellows from across the One Health spectrum to gain a more detailed understanding of the requirements of intersectoral initiatives.
Based on the success of the pilot initiative, the approach is now being expanded to other fellowship cohorts from Uganda and Malawi, as well as a new cohort of policy fellows from Kenya.
Related links
Third Call to Action Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance