UK and South Africa host a regional conference on AMR Surveillance:
The Department of Health, Republic of South Africa and the UK Department of Health hosted a regional conference on Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) on the 17th and 18th November, at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), Johannesburg, South Africa. During the conference the UK government made a £265 million commitment to the Fleming Fund, which will support capacity and capability development for AMR surveillance across health sectors.
The conference brought together Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) countries to discuss the challenges of AMR surveillance as well as the resources and regional collaborations available to support improvements in laboratory and surveillance capacity. In attendance was the Director- General of Health, South Africa, Ms Precious Malebona Matsoso and the British High Commissioner, Dame Judith Macgregor. Professor Same Sally Davies, UK Chief Medical officer and Professor Nigel Gibbens, UK Chief Veterinary Officer joined the conference via video conferencing.
I her opening speech Dame Judith Macgregor said: I am delighted to be here at the start of this important workshop on Antimicrobial resistance surveillance. We have worked very closely with South Africa internationally on this global threat, and this jointly hosted event is just the latest in an important collaboration. I would also like to acknowledge the participants from Kenya, for their Minister also made a telling contribution to the debate as a co-host with the UK, South Africa and others of an AMR side-event at the United Nations General Assembly.
The two day conference was packed with presentations from across multi sectors (in both human and animal sectors), case studies from throughout the region and interactive panel sessions to share best practice and investigate what regional support could look like.
Dame Judith Macgregor’s full speech can be found here.
Distributed by APO on behalf of British High Commission Pretoria.
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Source: APO – Africa-Newsroom: latest news releases related to Africa
