The Ministries of Health, Livestock and Fisheries, and Agriculture through the National Multi-Coordinating Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR-MCC), in collaboration with the Health Promotion and System Strengthening (HPSS) Project, various universities and research institutions, under the umbrella of the One Health approach (OH), have organized a major AMR symposium, from 22-23 November 2022 in Dar es Salaam.

This symposium will take place during World Antimicrobial Week (WAAW), which takes place globally from 18 -24 November every year. The 2022 WAAW themed ‘Preventing antimicrobial resistance together’ calls for cross-sectoral collaboration to preserve the efficacy of antibiotics and seeks to increase awareness of the global crisis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The World Health Organization (WHO) initiated WAAW to encourage best practices among the general public, health workers and policy makers in order to overcome the further emergence and spread of drug-resistant infections.

The event will consist of three main events, namely: the launch of the AMR - National Action Plan (2023-2028), Commemoration of World Antibiotic Week and the AMR Symposium.

AMR remains one of the major global public health threats which makes it harder to treat common infections thereby increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. Over the years, the use and misuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals and plants, poor prescribing practices and lack of patient adherence to medical prescriptions have accelerated the threat of AMR worldwide. Consequently, an increased number of infectious diseases have become difficult and even impossible to manage, with dramatic health and economic impact.

The consequences of AMR on health and healthcare systems are extraordinary. It has been estimated that multidrug resistant infections cause approximately 700,000 deaths worldwide each year. Unless action is taken, it is projected that the burden of deaths from AMR could reach 10 million each year globally by 2050.

In its efforts to combat AMR, the government established the National One Health approach structure called the National Antimicrobial Resistance Multi-Sectoral Coordination Committee (MCC) which coordinates all AMR activities in the country and is assisted by a number of Technical Working Groups.

Meanwhile, the government through MCC has completed the review of the NAP AMR 2017-2022 and has developed the new NAP AMR for 2023-2028, which is expected to be launched during the 2022 WAAW.

“You may wish to know that the first AMR symposium was initiated by HPSS project in 2017 and turned out to be a great success. Now, five years later, we are so humbled to see that our initial idea has now been fully taken over by the government”, said Dr Karin Wiedenmayer, Senior Pharmaceutical Public Health Expert at HPSS Project.

Wiedenmayer, also praised the Government and other stakeholders for their great efforts to address and mitigate AMR in Tanzania.  

HPSS is a Swiss-Tanzania Cooperation project, funded by the Swiss Government and implemented by Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.