By Marilyn King
232news
The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation(MOHS) and partners, on Monday 23rd January 2023 organized Two Weeks Antimicrobial Resistance, (AMR) Structured Operational Research Training Initiative (SORT IT) impact Assessment Module 1 and 2.
This training is to tackle Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Africa and Asia.
The WHO Country Representative to Sierra Leone, Dr. Innocent Nuwagira, while welcoming the guests from 12 countries, and from 22 Institutions thanked the government of Sierra Leone for accepting to host the meeting.
He maintained that the threat posed by Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) to global public cannot be emphasized enough. He continued that the AMR threatens global health security, and is poised to show the achievements of the sustainable Development goals and universal Health Coverage. He stated that they needed to act fast; therefore, and expressed delight that such a meeting was important to tackle Antimicrobial Resistance in Sierra Leone and other participating Countries.
He noted that a recent study published by Lancet in 2022 stated that, in 2019 alone, 5 million deaths were associated with AMR, and 1.27 million of those deaths were attributed to bacterial AMR, with the highest age adjusted death rates reported in Sub Saharan Africa, including Sierra Leone.
He stated that Sierra Leone, Ghana, and Nepal, like many other countries in the world have developed their AMR National Action Plan (NAP) in line with the WHO Global Action Plan to combat AMR. He said one of the objectives of these National Action Plans is to strengthen knowledge through surveillance and research. He noted that this objective feeds into the vision of the AMR-SORTIT program in strengthening health systems through operational research, as the SORT IT approach seeks to make countries Data rich, Information rich, and Action rich. He furthered that the WHO County Office in Sierra Leone has been supporting the Government, under the one Health Umbrella, and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in the implementation of the AMR SORT IT program. He added that they were pleased to have 17 research articles developed by 16 Sierra Leonean researchers and published in prestigious open access peer reviewed journals with high impact factors. He encouraged all junior mentors and SORT IT researchers from Ghana, Nepal, and Sierra Leone to give their best and complete all the required outputs and milestones for modules 1 and 2 training.
In his conclusion He thanked entire SORT IT team for their tireless efforts in generating global evidence on AMR with a keen focus on Africa and Asia where the burden is highest.
The Chief Medical Officer of Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Dr Sardie M Konneh, welcomed the guests to Sierra Leone. He called on them to enjoy their stay in Sierra Leone. He stated that they were happy to host the meeting in Sierra Leone while maintaining that they have started sensitizing people on the misuse of Antibiotics He noted that they will challenge their pharmacists to come up with laws in the country to save the lives of Sierra Leoneans. He continued that if not that will be the next epidemic in the country. He furthered that they were making the maternal mortality as a response in a form of emergency, and wanted to see how they can tackle Maternal Mortality in Sierra Leone.
