CwPAMS 1.5 Kakamega and Cambridge Partnership 

Lead partners of the CwPAMS 1.5 Kakamega and Cambridge Partnership consisted of:

Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital; and

Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust; and

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

The partnership focused on Working to strengthen Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) at Kakamega County Teaching and Referral Hospital.

Key achievements included:

• Trained 35 surgical staff on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) / AMS awareness
• Generated data on antibiotic consumption- antibiotic prevalence of 48.5% in Adult Surgical Ward (ASW) and 28.6% in Paediatrics Surgical Ward (PSW) for the Medicines and Therapeutics Committee (MTC)
• Inaugural Global Point Prevalence Survey (GPPS) in April -106 patients prescribed antimicrobials and this data was shared with the MTC and AMS committees
• Trained 35 Trainer of Trainers (ToTs) who are champions in their respective departments at the surgical wards, and enrolled them on the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) platform
• Held an AMS Game tournament at the hospital and plan to have them Quarterly
• Outcome: the activities have helped in strengthening AMS programs at KCGTRH
  

Visits

• A Kakamega team visiting Kawempe Hospital and Makerere University in January 2022 to share learning on AMS and health partnerships
• A Cambridge team visited Kakamega in March 2022 and carried out various joint activities including an AMS Awareness Workshop at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology (MMUST) involving university staff and students
• During the visit it was agreed that an alcohol gel manufacturing facility installation at Kakamega County General Teaching and Referral Hospital (KCGTRH) would help improve Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures. This concept was borrowed from Kampala and included on the 3-year AMS action plan
• A Kakamega team visited Cambridge in May 2022 to observe AMS and IPC practices in hospitals in Cambridge

  

Outcomes and future goals

• The project has really bolstered the efforts of MTC in strengthening the AMS activities at KCGTRH
• Installation of an alcohol gel manufacturing facility will help strengthen IPC measures at the facility
• More awareness on AMS and AMR needed both at the facility and at the community level
• Capacity building of staff on AMR and AMS key in the strengthening of AMS activities at KCGTRH
• Working together with the Kakamega County Antimicrobial Stewardship Inter-agency Committee (CASIC) to strengthen AMS programs at both KCGTRH and county in the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) for AMR
• Inclusion of the In Country Consultants (ICCs) to the Technical Working Group of the Ministry of Health (MoH)
• In country sharing of similar projects being implemented
• There are several projects in Kenya
• Exchange of technical information on AMS at National and County levels
• Mobilization of human and financial resources through regular budget allocations and mainstreaming of activities