MARC SE-Africa is proud to support World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW): Preventing antimicrobial resistance together
MARC SE-Africa members Stephanie van Wyk, Elias Phiri, Joaniter Nankabirwa, Donnie Mategula, Rhona Mijumbi at the WHO meeting in Kampala, Uganda, 7-10 November 2023.
November 18-24, 2023 - Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to global health, including malaria control and elimination. It occurs when parasites, bacteria, viruses, and fungi evolve over time and no longer respond to medications, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death. WAAW is a global campaign that aims to raise awareness and encourage action to tackle the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens.
The theme for WAAW 2023 remains “Preventing antimicrobial resistance together”, as in 2022. AMR is a threat to humans, animals, plants, and the environment. It affects us all. That is why this year’s theme calls for cross-sectoral collaboration to preserve the efficacy of antimicrobials.
A new adversary has also emerged in the battle against malaria in Southeast Africa: artemisinin-resistant parasites. If antimalarial drug resistance continues to spread, it could make malaria much more difficult to treat, with more malaria infections and more severe malaria and eventually leading to more deaths.
MARC SE-Africa responds to this growing crisis in malaria by better defining the extent of antimalarial resistance regionally and even more importantly, expediting the sharing of such evidence with National Malaria Programmes and their implementation partners. By working together, we can help to prevent the spread of antimalarial drug resistance and ensure that everyone has access to effective malaria treatment.
The project is supported by the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking established under the European Unions’ research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, with planned completion in 2027.
