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Welcome to the third edition of the Innovate4AMR 2019 newsletter! In these communications, you’ll be introduced to resources that will help you learn about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the inspiring stories behind some of last year’s winning teams. You’ll also see regular updates and reminders through this forum. If you have not already done so, please sign up to receive this newsletter and further updates here! To find out more about Innovate4AMR, visit innovate4amr.org. You can view the first booster email here and the second email here.
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International Expert Judging Panel announced for 2019 Innovate4AMR competition
A diverse group of experts across the field of AMR have been named to the 2019 Innovate4AMR international expert judging panel. This panel will be evaluating top applications to determine finalists attending the capacity-building workshop in Geneva, Switzerland during World Antibiotic Awareness Week. Find out more about the judges here! |
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Context-specific stewardship programs that target behavior change are vital in preventing the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Tanzania provides one such example of stewardship programs targeting behavior change. Facing unregulated sales of antibiotics and untrained pharmacy dispensers, a network of accredited drug dispensing outlets, called ADDOs, were implemented. Located especially in rural areas, staff are specifically trained to prescribe carefully antibiotics, as well as provide patients with clear instructions of use. This program has decreased the prescription of unnecessary antibiotics; more importantly, it has increased awareness around antibiotic resistance within the community.
Over the past few years, this stewardship program has been scaled up and implemented in a variety of countries, including Liberia, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as outside of Africa. However, challenges have arisen, and this study outlines opportunities to develop the model further. More information on Tanzania's innovative accreditation approach can be found by viewing the video below, and a further analysis can be found here, as well as a qualitative analysis behind the behavior change here, and a review of the quality of medicines dispensed by ADDOs here.
As you pull together your Innovate4AMR proposals, keep in mind that the best proposals are context-specific, data-driven, and leverages or catalyzes change at a systems change level, rather than individual interventions.
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Stay in the loop and never miss an update!
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Innovate4AMR champion highlights
In this section, we'll be highlighting past Innovate4AMR competitors, as well as current AMR champions around the world:
- Team AntiResist, Team ACME, and Team Indian Alliance for AMR Control from India competed in the 2018 Innovate4AMR, and were three of the 11 winning teams invited to the capacity-building workshop in Geneva, Switzerland. After this workshop, these teams were approached by the Wellcome-DBT India Alliance, a civil society organization in India funded by the Wellcome Trust and Department of Biotechnology, Government of India. The Wellcome-DBT India Alliance recently seeded the "Superheroes against Superbugs" project, an approach that uses comics to promote awareness on AMR among school children.
 Team AntiResist aimed to curb antibiotic use among patients and providers through a two-pronged intervention: on the patient side, they proposed the introduction of a simple card for patient antibiotic use documentation, and on the healthcare provider side, they proposed a Hospital Infection Control Committee (HICC) to formulate a protocol using the Treat Antibiotics Responsibly Guidance, Education and Tools (TARGET) toolkit. Team ACME aimed to reduce the burden of antimicrobial resistance through low cost interventions by using the existing infrastructure and government initiatives to streamline AMR initiatives. They proposed a Distribution System Analysis through "Antimicrobial purchase mapping" which consisted of identifying individuals purchasing antibiotic strips with the help of biometric data analysis. Their target is to evaluate patterns of antibiotic use in patients and of antibiotic prescribing among health service providers using the collected information about antimicrobial prescription, purchasing, and use. Team Indian Alliance for AMR Control presented a new model for behavior change in the healthcare sector, compiling a range of interventions. This would start with a baseline Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) assessment, after which focused training on appropriate prescribing for selected personnel would be carried out, as well as peer-to-peer dialogues and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) committees. In addition, community awareness camps would focus on raising awareness about AMR in order to decrease the "pressure to prescribe".
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Educational Resources
Provided below are a few introductory materials to the field of AMR. In follow-on newsletters, we’ll provide additional policy tools, examples of ongoing AMR projects, and links to short videos or resources that should help you pull together a proposal for submission.
- The Africa CDC is offering this course on antimicrobial resistance control. The course runs for six weeks and is 100% online, but applications close July 31st, 2019.
- Maryn McKenna's 2015 TED Talk on "What do we do when the antibiotics don't work anymore?" tells the story of antibiotic resistance, as well as steps everyone can take to slow the spread of drug-resistant bacteria and turn the tide against these superbugs.
- This article (Heyman et al.) published in the Upsala Journal of Medical Sciences outlines the balance between excess and access, as well as lessons learned working towards a sustainable distribution model for antibiotics.
- This video, produced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, provides an overview of antibiotic prescribing and opportunities for stewardship in different outpatient settings. The video highlights opportunities to improve antibiotic use across all settings, including urgent care, emergency departments, medical offices, and health clinics alike.
- Featured on OpenLearning, this free online course details clinical antimicrobial stewardship programs, specifically in South Africa. By giving insight into surveillance, infection prevention and control, and antimicrobial stewardship, this video aims to introduce healthcare practitioners to the concepts of antibiotic stewardship and provide practical guidelines for antibiotic prescribing and infection control.
- The Innovate4AMR team has pulled together and updated this Prezi, which gives a brief overview of the many intervention points along the antimicrobial pipeline. This presentation also contains challenges at each point, background information, some current efforts, as well as opportunities for improvement.
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A word from Innovate4AMR champions around the world
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Dr. Mirfin Mpundu is the Head of ReAct Africa and part of ReAct’s Global Leadership team. He provides countries with technical assistance on the development and implementation of National Action Plans, and is always on the look-out for new partnerships and collaborations towards putting antimicrobial resistance on the global and African agenda.
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