CwPAMS 1.5 Brighton-Lusaka Health Link Partnership
The partnership focused on Developing optimal antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) capacity and practice in rural and peri-urban healthcare settings in Zambia
CwPAMS 1.5 Brighton-Lusaka Health Link Partnership
The project was delivered by staff from the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust; Brighton and Sussex Medical School in the UK and the University of Zambia and University Teaching Hospital in Zambia.
Lead partners of the CwPAMS 1.5 Brighton-Lusaka Health Link Partnership consisted of:
University of Sussex; and
Hospital Pharmacy Association Zambia
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The partnership focused on Developing optimal antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) capacity and practice in rural and peri-urban healthcare settings in Zambia.
A Hub and Spoke Model (HSM) was used across sectors to augment peripheral services/practices by centralizing key resources. Their project goal was to assess the feasibility of whether the use of HSM could enhance Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) practice improvement across public hospitals.
Methodology
- Multi-method design
- Hub Hospital: University Teaching Hospital (UTH) established AMS
capacity – AMS Charts - Spoke Hospitals (Pilot sites) included:
– Kabwe Central Hospital (Central Provinces)
– Kitwe Central Teaching Hospital (Copperbelt Province)
Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3 |
Baseline antimicrobial utilisation (GPPS) and AMS practice assessment (CDC checklist) in spoke hospitals | AMS and Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) training & team capacity building of multidisciplinary healthcare workers (HCWs), experience sharing and mentoring visits by Hub, iterative peer learning cycles (‘Plan-Do-Study-Act’) at spoke hospitals by Hub mentors  | Monitoring and follow-up assessment of interventions in spoke hospitals |
Key Achievements:
- A catalysed self-sustaining model was rolled out to develop provincial AMS hubs at Kabwe and Kitwe hospitals
- Multidisciplinary AMS teams were established and operationalised in spoke hospitals
- Improved knowledge and practice of AMS and IPC in spoke hospitals (Pre-test = 74%; post-test average score = 84%)
- Alignment of AMS priorities in spoke hospitals e.g. rational antibiotic use, adherence to guidelines, inter-professional and inter-institutional collaboration
- Hand rub production units, including upskilling of staff to locally produce alcohol-based hand rub for IPC
- Point prevalence survey (PPS) data reporting, feedback, and dissemination
- 5 PPS reports generated: (Pre and Post PPS)
Kitwe 2, Kabwe 2 and Chipata 1 - Presented at the Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia Scientific Conference –June, 2022
- Successful stakeholders’ engagement and meeting
- Antimicrobial drug chart developed
- Established a 6th handrub manufacturing unit in Kabwe
Training Materials Outcomes:
- Antimicrobial Stewardship Training for HealthCare Workers in Zambia
- Standard Operating Procedure Handbook for Hand rub Production and Hand Hygiene in the Hospital
Training successes:
- Conducted AMS Training: 3 Hospitals AMS Committees
Chipata Central Hospital- April 2022
Kitwe Central Hospital –March 2022
Kabwe Central Hospital – February 2022 - Total Trained 42 AMS Multidisciplinary Members
- Average score Pre-Test 74% and Post-Test 84%
Video Playlist
Overview of CwPAMS
The Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) is a health partnership programme funded by the UK aid Fleming Fund to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) globally. CwPAMS is managed by the Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA) and the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET), an international NGO with expertise in delivering global health partnerships.
CwPAMS aim has been to enhance implementation of protocols and evidenced based decision making to support antimicrobial prescribing, as well as capacity for antimicrobial use surveillance. The Fleming Fund is a UK aid programme supporting up to 25 countries across Africa and Asia to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a leading public health threat across the world. The programme is managed by the UK Department of Health and Social Care.
