There is evidence of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms in human and animal health in Zambia and therefore to tackle this challenge the Zambian Government undertook a multi-sectoral approach to develop this National Action Plan (NAP) in line with the global AMR strategy. Zambia has developed a Multisectoral National Action Plan (NAP) to address ways of combating antimicrobial resistance. The country has adopted the “One Health” approach as proposed in the Global Action plan (GAP) on antimicrobial resistance. Hence this plan was developed by a multidisciplinary team that was constituted from different sectors in May 2016. The NAP has adopted five strategic objectives from the GAP as follow: to improve awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance (1); to strengthen the knowledge and evidence base through surveillance and research (2); to reduce the incidence of infection (3); to optimize the use of antimicrobial medicines in human and animal health (4); to develop the economic case for sustainable investment (5). The policy provides for establishing an evidence-based public communications programme, research and surveillance of AMR, strengthening the regulatory provisions and structure, infection prevention, Optimal use of antimicrobial medicines in human, animal, and plant health and investment for research and development of new medicines and vaccines. The Policy provides a review on the country profile including administrative and community structure, socio-economic status, contribution of the crop and livestock sector to the economy, transportation and communication and human health service. The Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) under the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock (MFL) is responsible for animal health services. The national headquarters of DVS is involved in management, policy formulation and resource mobilisation to facilitate provincial and district operations. The Policy further refers to veterinary laboratory infrastructure, animal health financing and medicine regulation. The Policy insists that addressing AMR is a shared global responsibility requiring all sectors and stakeholders to mobilize around the One Health approach for the prevention and containment of the public health threat. In this light the Policy provides for global, regional and national perspectives on AMR interventions. The Policy further provides on national specific AMR activities for human beings and animals, registration and regulation of medicines to conduct surveillance on antimicrobial resistance, perceptions on drivers of and knowledge on AMR. The Policy describes the availability of alternatives to antimicrobials, practices and usage of antimicrobials and capacity to regulate and enforce regulations on antimicrobials use. The Policy lists different stakeholders from private and public sectors and defines different action committees including National Multisectoral Steering Committee (NMSC), Antimicrobial Resistance Coordinating Committee (AMRCC), Secretariat for Antimicrobial Resistance Coordinating Committee (AMRCC) and their individual roles and responsibility for leadership, information sharing, facilitation and guidance and internal and external interactions to build sustained partnerships and work nationally and internationally on containment of AMR in their respective sector.
Zambia · 2017-01-01