Public Health England, an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care in the United Kingdom has given an award for exceptional performance to Makerere University School of Public Health—MakSPH for its outstanding role in strengthening antimicrobial stewardship in Uganda.
The award was in recognition for the collaborative work on antimicrobial stewardship with Nottingham Trent University, Buckinghamshire NHS Healthcare Trust and other partners. This recognition was received at the Antibiotic Guardian Shared Learning and Awards 2020 (UK) under the category of Multi-Country Collaboration held late last month via zoom.
Delivering a certificate of recognition to Dr. David Musoke, the Uganda project lead, Dr Diane Ashiru-Oredope while representing the Antibiotic Guardian Shared Learning & Awards Planning Group observed that it was a highly competitive contest but MakSPH demonstrated great performance, hence the honour for its commitment to promotion of responsible use of antimicrobials to prevent antimicrobial resistance.
“We received the highest number of entries ever this year and so your award is an achievement to be proud of,” said Dr. Diane Ashiru-Oredope.
She hailed the Ugandan team for the “incredible work to keep antibiotics working” and urged them to submit more of this “great work for next year's shared learning and awards.”
For ten years now, the MakSPH and Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK have through this partnership supported efforts aimed at strengthening community health systems particularly supporting village health teams (VHTs) in Uganda and largely focusing on Wakiso district.
During its implementation, the project, titled, “Strengthening Antimicrobial Stewardship in Wakiso district using a One Health approach, has trained a total of 86 health practitioners, including animal health workers, and 227 community health workers on antimicrobial stewardship.
In addition, over 300 pupils from primary schools were sensitized on antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial stewardship, and infection prevention and control.
“The judges commended the project for bringing together contributions from both human and animal health teams as part of a holistic 'One Health Approach',” read the award citation.
According to Dr. Musoke, during this period, the MakSPH-NTU has worked closely with Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust (BHT) UK, Makerere University Pharmacy Department, Makerere University College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (CoVAB), Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital, and the Ministry of Health.
So far, the partnership has established two multidisciplinary online communities of practice with a current membership of 321 health professionals and 162 students.
“We are extremely delighted to receive this recognition. This project has demonstrated that antimicrobial stewardship interventions using a One Health approach can promote understanding of the careful use of antimicrobials and improve practices at health facilities and in communities,” said Dr. Musoke.
Filimin Niyongabo, an environmental health specialist at MakSPH spearheaded the Infection Prevention and Control category that saw Makerere University School of Public Health declared winners.
The judges noted that the project empowered the healthcare worker to learn and disseminate this new knowledge about Infection Prevention and Control, antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial stewardship to the wider community.
“It is a wonderful innovative and collaborative project which has had a positive impact on the community,” reads in part, the citation.
Niyongabo said that during the trainings in Wakiso, they used Balloon experiments and the Glo germ gel with a handheld ultra-violet torch to emphasize the need for proper handwashing.
“Health workers and village health teams not only understood the concept of antimicrobial resistance but also improved in handwashing practice. Generally, there was an increase in awareness of the relevance of the infection prevention and control practices, and we hope to train other health professionals and Village Health teams in other parts of Uganda,” he added.
The partnership also received a Highly Commended award submitted by Dr. Jody Winter, a Lecturer in Microbiology at Nottingham Trent University under the category of Innovation and Technology for the submission titled ‘Learning without borders – global perspectives on antimicrobial resistance for UK and Uganda university students.’ The citation of the award noted in part that ‘The sharing and delivery of learning over an international forum by this project were noted as a clear strength of this entry.’
Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital was also recognised for its submission by Ismail Kizito, the hospital pharmacist, titled ‘The role of the Medicines and Therapeutic Committee in fostering antimicrobial stewardship activities in Entebbe Hospital’. In the citation of the award, the judges commended the project for greatly improving antimicrobial stewardship at the hospital by training health workers, implementing policies for appropriate use of antimicrobials, and undertaking a global point prevalence survey.
The biggest award for the partnership at the event was the Das Pillay Antimicrobial Stewardship Memorial Award that was won by Bee Yean Ng, a Pharmacist at Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust. Bee was commended for her work with the project particularly supporting the planning and delivery of training activities for health workers that took place in Uganda. In her words, Bee said ‘I feel that I have gained so much than I have given to the project. After this experience, we have changed the way we deliver our training and other activities related to antimicrobial stewardship’.
Dr. Linda Gibson, an Associate Professor of Public Health at Nottingham Trent University and the UK lead of the partnership said she was “very pleased for the recognition of the achievements.” She added that she was extremely happy with the success of this project which involved a multi-disciplinary team and several implementing partners in the UK and Uganda.
This is a great a “great recognition,” said Dr. Esther Buregyeya, Associate Professor & Chair, Department of Disease Control & Environmental Health that houses the project. She also commended the project team for making "the MakSPH and the whole University shine.”
Dr. Rhoda Wanyenze, a Professor and Dean, MakSPH said this was a “great” achievement and urged the teams to continue showcasing the excellent work the School does to promote public health training, research and community service in Uganda and globally.
Written by Davidson Ndyabahika
