During the Winchester Rotary team’s recent visit to Uganda Dr Kordo Saeed and Mr Bwambale Arafat from (GLPC) organised a one day awareness workshop on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This included the impact of inappropriate antibiotic dispensing at private and public health facilities in the rural areas of Kasese district Uganda. This was held at central division hall in Kasese on 3rd January, 2025.
The event started with a brief welcome from Bwambale Girivazio (district health government representative) with an over view on AMR and some local issues. Followed by welcome from Mr Afan Abdallah (GLPC lead) to the attendees.
The scientific programme started with an overview of AMR and its causes from Mr Arafat (District Surveillance Officer and member of GLPC) highlighting key issues locally with regards to inappropriate antibiotic dosing, over use of antibiotics, self medication as well as the impact of AMR on social economic transformation in the area and broadly in low income places.
This was followed by a talk from Dr Nusreen Ahmad a molecular microbiologist from UK (University Hospital Southampton NHS Trust) who asserted that AMR occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria undergo transformational change allowing them to acquire resistance to particular antibiotics. She continued to talk about target implications, research tools, and the negative impacts of AMR on patient outcome and health economy. She also presented on the importance of diagnostics including rapid diagnostics and PCR and how they can assist in curbing AMR.
Mr. Fredrick Masereka from Bwera Hospital/ Uganda began his presentations by defining AMR and the issues of patients taking expired antibiotics and the damage this cause to the health and the environment, namely generating more resistant bacteria. He also talked about superbugs that they are resistant so many antibiotics. It was also particularly refreshing that he shared some local data from Bwera Hospital and their initiatives to diagnose infections and detected AMR in order to have better understanding and treatment strategies.
The final speaker was Dr Kordo Saeed, a consultant microbiologist and associate professor from the University of Southampton and represented ISAC. He presented on the global estimates of impact of AMR on mortality, and data from Uganda which estimates 7000 direct deaths and ~30000 indirect deaths in Uganda attributed to AMR annually. He highlighted the importance of the WHO global action plan, some local initiatives, the importance of vaccination, infection prevention and education to tackle AMR. He also mentioned about the importance of collaboration between health care works, scientists. politicians and policy makers to curb AMR.
The event was attended by 110 health care workers (Drs, pharmacists, technicians, veterinarians, as well as government officials , the mayor of Kasese and local radio), it was a delight to have our Rotary President Mr Paul Russell and Rotarian Gill Russell in attendance at the event.
The event was dubbed as a catalyst for bigger health education collaborations and ideally future studies in the Kasese area. Key achievements were:
- Raising awareness among public health workers on the burden of AMR.
- Strengthening AMR knowledge among health workers.
- Improving reporting of antibiotic effects in facilities to the district. Including presenting local data sharing and guidance.
The success of the event is a credit to colleagues in Uganda, the UK and most importantly the participants and their interactions during the event.
The organisers would like to thank the International Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (ISAC) who funded the activity as well as local officials and staff from GLPC in Kasese for making the event happen.
A number of conference photos can been seen here
