Ghana moves to combat antimicrobial resistance
The Head of Public Health and Food Safety Division, Veterinary Services, Dr Bashiru Boi Kikimoto, has said that Ghana is taking the required steps to combat the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
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He said antimicrobial resistance had been detected in Ghana since 2011 through various research.
Dr Kikimoto expanded that the researches established that the medicines used in human health, veterinary, aquaculture, apiculture as well as in other sectors, were becoming resistant to the microbes which cause disease in humans and animals.
This, he explained, implied that common infections were becoming untreatable because medicines no longer worked.
Dr Kikimoto said this in a presentation at a media roundtable held on the sidelines of the ministerial conference on the ‘One Health’ initiative held in Dakar, Senegal.
The conference was hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission in collaboration with other regional and international partners.
Country actions
Dr Kikimoto indicated that Ghana had embarked on specific country level actions involving relevant actors in the ‘one health’ approach.
Using existing data, Ghana had initiated steps to advocate government-led action to tackle the AMR phenomenon, resulting in the creation of a multi-stakeholder platform led by the Ministry of Health, with active roles by the Ministries of Food and Agriculture, Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation as well as other affected ministries, departments and agencies.
According to him, a technical team was tasked to conduct an in-depth situational analysis to inform the next step.
Situational analysis
“The situational analysis done revealed the gaps across sectors and thus validated the need for a comprehensive policy for containing the AMR phenomenon, formed the basis for drafting a policy,” he said.
He emphasised that the multi-stakeholder platform and consultative processes had been expanded recently to further entrench the principles of the ‘one-health’ in all AMR actions in Ghana.
Dr Kikimoto added that the AMR policy document was validated on October 27, 2016 while the National Action Plan was finalised on the October, 28, 2016.
The final AMR policy was to be submitted for cabinet approval after which a National Action Plan would be developed, he added.
Antimicrobial resistance
Giving an overview of the ‘One Health’, Ms Ebba Kalondo, Risk Communications Expert with WHO, AFRO, noted that misuse of antibiotics for agriculture contributed to antimicrobial resistance, making antibiotics less effective for both humans and animals.
Antimicribial resistance, she emphasised, was a real and growing threat to global public health, “as overuse and misuse of antibiotics in humans, animals and agriculture is a major driver of resistance to drugs we count on to combat infectious diseases and common bacterial infections,” Ms Kalondo added.
