Improved antibiotic stewardship in Tanzania

Description

Dr Mike Kesby & Dr Kathryn Fredricks (University of St Andrews UK), together with Dr Joseph Mwanga & Pendo Ndaki (Catholic University of Health and Allied Sciences – Bugando, Mwanza) are part of an international interdisciplinary team that since 2018 has been working on the drivers of AMR in East Africa (HATUA - Holistic Approach to Unravel Antibacterial Resistance in East Africa https://medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk/igh/hatua/ and CARE - COVID-19 and Antimicrobial Resistance in East Africa – impact and response https://medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk/igh/care/ ). We have called this meeting as part of our ongoing strategy of engaging stakeholders & policy makers. The first part of the meeting will be focused on dissemination – & a series of key issues that likely contribute to the risk of AMR in Tanzania: (1) A high burden of AMR (among large UTI patient sample): (2) Free-market antibiotic sales that do not comply with government regulation on AB dispensing: (3) lack of knowledge among the public about (i) AMR (ii) AB regulations (iii) The difference between ABs & other categories of drugs and (iv) General categories of disease (e.g., viral v bacterial): (4) High public demand for over-the-counter supply of antibiotics (seen as ‘cure-all’ drugs): (5) Insufficient capacity to enforce regulations & insufficient motivation for voluntary compliance. Having reviewed & discussed these, we will move to the second part of the meeting. This will first present & discuss public health information material co-produced with local grassroots participants then introduce & seek feedback on a pilot intervention to influence better stewardship within the antibiotic market.

Period	17 Oct 2022 → 18 Oct 2022
Event type	Workshop
Location	Dodoma , Tanzania, United Republic ofShow on map
Degree of Recognition	International