Southern Africa: Advancing Antimicrobial Stewardship and AMR Surveillance in Eastern and Southern Africa

7 August 2023
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Addis Ababa)
press release

Nairobi — Over 70 great minds from 15 African Union Member States in East and Southern Africa under the One-Health Approach convened in Nairobi Kenya to review the Antimicrobial (AMR) stewardship guidelines and forge a way towards the implementation of the AMR surveillance systems. This initiative is a response to the rising concern on the increasing burden of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).

In her opening remarks, Dr. Susan Nakhumicha Wafula, Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Health opened the meeting, acknowledging the global threat posed by AMR to public health and commended the collaborative endeavors of the organizing bodies Africa CDC and ECSA-HC.

She underlined the urgency of concerted efforts to tackle AMR and advocated for a comprehensive One-Health Approach, combining efforts across multiple sectors -- human health, animal health, environmental health, and agriculture -- to prevent the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. "Reliable data is the bedrock upon which effective strategies are built, and by leveraging on data, we can identify hotspots of resistance, and be able to track emerging threats and access the impact of our interventions,".

Precipitating nations conducted a comprehensive review of the existing AMR Stewardship Regional Guidance document and evaluation of Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) and AMR Surveillance assessment tools by:

  • Sharing best practices in executing Antimicrobial Stewardship programs and implementing AMR surveillance systems in their countries,
  • Identifying regional priorities for AMS and AMR Surveillance and
  • Establishing of a regional AMR technical working group, with intentions to replicate the initiative in other African regions and enhance Member states relations, as some of the key outcomes of the gathering.

This five-day workshop was hosted by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Kenya. Fifteeen (15) East and Southern African countries namely: Comoros, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe attended the meeting.

About Africa CDC

Africa CDC is an autonomous health agency of the African Union which supports Member States in their efforts to strengthen health systems and improve surveillance, emergency response, prevention and control of diseases. Learn more at: http://www.africacdc.org

About the ECSA-HC

The East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) is an inter-governmental health organization established in 1974 to foster and promote regional cooperation in health among member states. The ECSA Health Community works with countries and partners to raise the standard of health for the people of the ECSA region by promoting efficiency and effectiveness of health services through cooperation, collaboration, research, capacity building, policy development and advocacy. To learn more about ECSA-HC visit their website at https://ecsahc.org.

 

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