The Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership (MAAP) project has conducted a multi-year, multi-country study that provides stark insights on the under-reported depth of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis across Africa and lays out urgent policy recommendations to address the emergency.

MAAP reviewed 819,584 AMR records from 2016-2019, from 205 laboratories across Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eswatini, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. MAAP also reviewed data from 327 hospital and community pharmacies and 16 national-level AMC datasets.

Findings

The results of the study, which was supported by the Fleming Fund, provide insight into the AMR burden and antimicrobial consumption (AMC) collectively across the 14 African countries — areas where most available data on AMR is only based on statistical modeling. Check out this infographic of MAAP’s key findings.                          The study found that:

Read More
  • Most laboratories across Africa are not ready for AMR testing.
  • Only 1.3% of the 50,000 medical laboratories forming the laboratory networks of the 14 participating countries conduct bacteriology testing.
  • Only a fraction can handle the scientific processes needed to evaluate AMR.
  • In eight of the 14 countries, more than half of the population is out of reach of any bacteriology laboratory.
  • Clinical and treatment data are not being linked to laboratory results, making it hard to understand what’s driving AMR.
  • Out of ~187,000 samples tested for AMR, around 88% had no information on patients’ clinical profiles, including diagnosis/origin of infection, presence of indwelling device comorbidities or antimicrobial usage.
  • Only four drugs comprised more than two-thirds (67%) of all the antibiotics used in healthcare settings.
  • Stronger medicines to treat more resistant infections were not available, suggesting limited access to some groups of antibiotics.

The reports published here provide insight into the specific situation of each of the MAAP-participating countries. Country data can inform national AMR containment plans and serve as baseline to prospectively monitor AMR, AMC and the strengthening of bacteriology laboratories.

Reports

Each country report is available below to either download or read online via HTML

“The disconnect between patient data and AMR results, coupled with the extreme AMR burden, makes it difficult to provide accurate guidelines for patient care and wider public health policies. Hence, collecting and connecting laboratory, pharmacy and clinical data will be essential to provide a baseline and a reference for public health actions.”  – Dr Yewande Alimi, AMR Programme Coordinator, Africa CDC