E-DRUG: Tanzania's three-year trend analysis of national antimicrobial
consumption
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Dear e-drug members,
One of the WHO's Benchmarks for International Health Regulations
https://www.who.int/ihr/publications/9789241515429/en/
recommends that member states establish protocols and databases for monitoring antimicrobial use and consumption for a country to reach capacity levels 2 and 3.
The United Republic of Tanzania's Ministry of Health, Community
Development, Gender, Elderly, and Children and the USAID-funded Medicines,
Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program published
findings of a three-year trend analysis of national antimicrobial
consumption in the Frontiers in Pharmacology's section on Pharmaceutical
Medicine and Outcomes Research.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.585553/full
As mentioned in the paper, this is the first study from the sub-Saharan
Africa region that provides a comprehensive picture of national-level
consumption of priority antimicrobials based on the WHO's antimicrobial
consumption methodology.
Two principal findings:
- Based on the WHO's Access, Watch and Reserve (AWaRe) classification, more
than 90% of antimicrobial consumption was in the Access class medications
exceeding WHO's target of at least 60% consumption in that class.
- The majority of antimicrobial consumption occurred in the private sector.
The proportion of private-sector antibiotic consumption increased annually
from 2017 to 2019 suggesting the need for heightened oversight in the
private sector in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
The study was led by the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender,
Elderly, and Children in partnership with the Tanzania Medicine and Medical
Devices Authority, the USAID MTaPS program, and its global expert partner,
the University of Washington, Seattle.
Please find the link to the publication here:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2020.585553/full
Best regards,
Timothe Chevaux
Strategic Communications Consultant
Management Sciences for Health
Annecy, France
tchevaux-consultant@msh.org