The Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA), in partnership with the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET) and funded by the Fleming Fund, developed the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) programme. The CPA also has a longstanding history of running campaigns on World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), which takes place annually between the 18th and 24th of November. WAAW aims to improve the understanding of what antimicrobial medicines are and how their misuse and overuse in humans, animals and the environment are accelerating the speed at which microbes are adapting to resist their effect.
Partner Blog: Advancing quality data and effective policies to stop AMR
World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2020
Fleming Fund partner International Vaccine Institute is working with countries across Asia and Africa to identify, evaluate, and create demand for AMR data and policymaking. Reliable and timely data is needed to convince policymakers to invest in sustainable solutions to AMR.
The IVI-led CAPTURA consortium was awarded two out of four Fleming Fund Regional Grants to work with 12 countries in South and South East Asia to collect and analyse historical and current data on AMR and AMU in the human health sector in these countries:
Nepal: Expanding the AMR network
In Nepal, the CAPTURA team added 36 potential lab sites to develop a regional AMR network, including the private sector, with ongoing capacity and quality assessments. The next steps are data collection and analysis.
Papua New Guinea: Building capacity in data management and reporting
In Papua New Guinea, the CAPTURA team led trainings for data collection, and digitized and presented lab data from 2016-2019 for policy. The team is continuing to collect pharmacy data.
Sharing AMR data to inform and drive effective policymaking
IVI and its consortium of partners are also spearheading an effort to catalyze regional AMR data sharing and analysis to influence regional and global policies for sustained commitment to AMR control. The RADAAR project (Regional AMR Data Analysis for Advocacy, Response, and Policy) aims to conduct data analysis, visualization, and advocacy for regional sharing and use of data in policy, planning, and practice in the Fleming Fund priority countries across Asia and .
Using a One Health approach that involves both the human and animal health sectors, the project will engage with the intersecting issues of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), antimicrobial use (AMU), and antimicrobial consumption. Extensive and close engagement with country stakeholders is planned for 2021 through a series of regional data sharing and policy workshops.
Strengthening external quality assurance (EQA) programs across reference labs in Asia
The Technical University of Denmark’s National Food Institute is leading an effort with IVI to improve the quality of AMR surveillance in the Asia region. Through EQASIA (Strengthening External Quality Assurance for AMR in Asia), we mapped the coverage, availability and uptake of EQA programs across One Health sectors in Asia, and will continue to strengthen EQA services in National Reference Labs.
Why is EQA important?
Quality-assured data is essential for developing nuanced treatment guidelines and tailored strategies to prevent the emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.
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As a Veterinary Investigations Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture in Zimbabwe, Kudzaishe Vhoko-Tapesana joined the Fleming Fund fellowship scheme in May 2021. Hosted by the [London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)](https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/), Kudzaishe’s fellowship advances her professional development while supporting country efforts to improve surveillance of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animal health.