COHESA says working to bring innovative solutions for AMR issues in Ethiopia
By Wondesen Aregahegn
Addis Ababa, December 11, 2023 (FBC) – The EU funded Capacitating One Health in Eastern and Southern Africa (COHESA), a project being multiplied by Addis Ababa University at a national level, organized a five sandpit event in the premises of ILRI in Addis Ababa with an objective to bring innovative solutions for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Ethiopia.
The event which will run from 11-15 December 2023 was organized to offer space for four teams that succeeded in preliminary evaluation of 24 applicants from all over Ethiopia.
Participants representing academic and research institutions, public and private sectors and NGOs participated in the sandpit event to refine the proposed concept for AMR solution.
Participants from other African countries also attended the event with a view to draw lessons from the innovative process.
On the occasion, Dr. Theo Knight-Jones, a principal scientist in the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and coordinator of the COHESA project, said that Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) has become one of the major problems facing humanity at the moment, and millions are dying every year across the world due to this issue.
Like any other parts of the world, AMR is a priority concern in Ethiopia and the sandpit is a major step towards addressing the issue, Dr. Theo Knight-Jones, stated, highlighting the significance of the event in generating ideas he said was critical to better deal with the problem.
Dr. Theo Knight-Jones pointed out that Ethiopia is at the forefront of the implementation of the COHESA project, adding that an effective one health structure has been created in the country with collaborative works undertaken by Addis Ababa University, the Ministry of Health, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute and other partners.
The concerted efforts being undertaken under the framework of COHESA are key to better deal with the major health challenges that are affecting humans, animals and the environment as well.
Dr. Mirgissa Kaba, member of Addis Ababa University’s School of Public Health and lead multiplier of COHESA, said, the university has identified AMR as a high priority topic for Ethiopia through two rounds of a Delphi process it has conducted so far, commending the sandpit event as a crucial step to develop innovative solution to the problem.
Dr. Mirgissa disclosed that health, teaching and research institutions and other government and non-governmental organizations participated in the delphi process.
AMR is now jeopardizing the health of human beings, animals and the environment through a cyclic process inextricably linked with day to day life. Pathogens are now developing ability to defeat the drugs, and this is affecting our community in various aspects, he said.
According to Dr. Mirgissa, 24 multidisciplinary applicants from several regions of Ethiopia have submitted their concepts to COHESA focusing on how to address the AMR issue in Ethiopia, of which 4 have been selected as most important ideas to curb the problem.
“Four concepts selected by the two independent assessors will be benefited from inputs by subject and method experts as well as mentors in the five days .On the fifth day two the action research proposals will be selected for funding,” Dr. Mirgissa indicated, adding that the two selected projects will conduct innovative action researches that would be endorsed by the government and implemented in a way to address the issue.
“There are researches conducted in the area of AMR. What makes us different from the previous ones is that we see the problem from the perspective of human, animals and environmental health,” he said, expressing his hope that the projects designed by COHESA would contribute the the national efforts to combat the problem related to AMR.
Dr. Siobhan Mor, a senior researcher at ILRI, for her part, described the sandpit event as a crucial tool to stimulate multidisciplinary proposals to address the AMR issues.
The proposals are aimed at bridging the gaps in efforts to respond to the microbial resistance in Ethiopia. The ideas being generated through the sandpit would help to bring research based solutions vital to curb the spread of pathogens resistant to drugs like antibiotics, she said.
ILRI in partnership with Addis Ababa University will assist the implementation of the ideas of the selected proposals financially as well as technically to help address the issue she described as a growing challenge in Ethiopia and the world at large, she added.
By Wondesen Aregahegn