In February 2020 we held our first international workshop of the COMBAT AMR in Africa Network titled "Global threat yet local problem - antimicrobial resistance in sub-Saharan Africa" at the Hirsch Institute of Tropical Medicine in Asella, Ethiopia.
Structure of the COMBAT AMR Network
The ESTHER (HKP)-funded COMBAT AMR in Africa Network (COmprehensive Multi-Centre Bioinformatics-based Action to Tackle AMR in sub-Saharan Africa) is a partnership of six German specialized departments for infectious diseases and / or tropical medicine of public university hospitals and their longstanding partner-institutions, university and referral hospitals in five different countries of Sub-Saharan Africa.
As the newest member, the Department of Infectious Diseases of the University of Leipzig with their partner site in Kampala, Uganda, joined the cooperation of the COMBAT AMR in Africa Network in summer 2019. Every individual partnership between a German university hospital and the corresponding African partner site share a long history of cooperation and joint initiatives in education, capacity building, medical development and research.
In detail, the African and German partner sites are:
| African Partner Institution | German Partner Institution |
|---|---|
| Ethiopia: College of Health Sciences & Asella Teaching and Referral Hospital, Arsi University, Asella | Düsseldorf University Hospital: Department for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and lnfectious Diseases |
| Ethiopia: Jimma University Specialized Hospital, College of Public Health and Medical Sciences, Jimma University, Jimma | Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich: Department for lnfectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University Hospital Munich |
| Ghana: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana and Komfo Ankye Teaching Hospital (KATH) Kumasi, Ghana | University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf: 1. Department of Medicine, Bernhard-Nocht-lnstitute for Tropical Medicine |
| Kenya: Kenyatta National Hospital, College of Health Sciences, University of Nairobi, Nairobi | Goethe University Frankfurt/Main: Department for lnfectious Diseases, HIV therapy and Tropical Medicine |
| Rwanda: University Teaching Hospital of Butare (CHUB), Butare | Charite Berlin: Institute for Tropical Medicine and International Health, Charite- Universitätsmedizin Berlin |
| Uganda: Kiruddu National Referral Hospital, Kampala | University Hospital Leipzig: Division of lnfectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine |
Objectives
The cooperation on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) was initiated between five German and six African partner sites in 2016 with the goal to join forces in the fight against the spread of AMR in Sub-Saharan Africa. Founded by the German University and Hospital Partnership Program (“Hochschul- und Klinikpartnerschaften”), the partners are currently focusing the collaboration on a program to strengthen the interchange and results communication between microbiological laboratories and clinicians, and to procure AMR surveillance data in order to support Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) activities at the African partner hospitals by introducing a joint web-based surveillance and lab information system.
As part of network activities, several joint workshops and trainings, coordinated interventions and a successful joint scientific study on AMR in urinary tract infections have been conducted to date.