The State of Stewardship in Africa

In 2001 the WHO published “WHO global strategy on containment of antimicrobial resistance”, which aimed to enable countries to implement policies in response to antimicrobial resistance.

In 2005 it was noted that global progress was slow with the following issues:

• Lack of commitment and data
• Unassured drug quality and irrational use
• Poor prevention and control of infections
• Research languishing

In 2011 the WHO responded by producing the The World Health Organization’s policy package to combat antimicrobial resistance:

• Commit to a comprehensive, financed national plan with accountability and civil society engagement
• Strengthen surveillance and laboratory capacity
• Ensure uninterrupted access to essential medicines of assured quality
• Regulate and promote rational use of medicines, including in animal husbandry, and ensure proper patient care
• Enhance infection prevention and control
• Foster innovations and research and development for new tools

In 2016 an analysis by Essack et al investigated whether countries in the WHO African region had implemented the WHO Policy Package. The findings were that only 2 countries had national AMR plans, 7 had overarching national infection prevention and control (IPC) policies, 44 had essential medicines lists and 43 had national medicines policies and treatment guidelines intimating rational use.

You can read this paper in full below.