Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship 2.5 Announced
Our award-winning collaborative antimicrobial stewardship programme has been extended for a further year.
The Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA) and Global Health Partnerships are delighted to announce the extension of our Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship programme (CwPAMS).
Phase 2.5 of the programme, which will run until March 2026, will build on the existing work of health partnerships between UK NHS healthcare facilities and those in seven low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa to continue empowering pharmacists to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
We will seek to extend the impacts of CwPAMS with a continued focus on improving capacity building and leadership, evidence-based practices and data use, and extending antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) principles and initiatives into community settings to improve public engagement to combat AMR.
Victoria Rutter
Chief Executive Officer, CPA
“We are thrilled to have been given the opportunity to continue our work on CwPAMS for another year in partnership with Global Health Partnerships.
“In particular, we are excited to bring together our previous CwPAMS Fellowships into our very first joint UK-Africa AMS Fellowship programme. In the face of the current challenges to global health funding, supporting the development of in-country leaders and the partnership approach are fantastic ways to support sustainability and are fully aligned with the Commonwealth’s focus on the importance of partnerships and young people.
“We are thankful to our funders, the Fleming Fund, for enabling our health partnerships to continue their impactful work.”
Since 2019, CwPAMS has sought to enhance the implementation of protocols and evidence-based decision-making to support antimicrobial prescribing and capacity for antimicrobial use surveillance.
We do this by building strategic pharmacy-led partnerships which foster bidirectional learning between UK and African health institutions. The partnerships provide training, education and development opportunities for multidisciplinary healthcare teams, empowering them to tackle AMR and save lives through an integrated bundle of activities that promote the prudent, safe use of medicines and includes enhanced infection prevention strategies.
Through CwPAMS, we have trained and empowered nearly 22,000 healthcare workers to tackle AMR in LMICs
The CPA and GHP are delighted to be supporting the continuation of the vital work undertaken by our existing health partnerships and are excited to introduce some new initiatives for CwPAMS 2.5.
What's new in CwPAMS 2.5?
United Kingdom-Africa Leadership Fellowship-AMS
CwPAMS 1.0 and 1.5 saw the resounding success of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s Global Health Fellowship, made available to UK-based NHS pharmacists. For CwPAMS 2.0, we undertook the Africa Leadership Fellowship-AMS, in which 45 pharmacists across eight LMICs in Africa were trained as AMS leaders.
“If you want to become a complete pharmacist, you need to have certain skills… the ALF-A programme provides skills which are not being taught in class.”
Noah Sesay
Pharmacist and ALF-A Fellow, Sierra Leone
Now, for the first time, we have established a CwPAMS Fellowship for both UK-based and Africa-based pharmacists in which our leaders will grow together: UK-ALF-A.
UK-ALF-A will solidify our health partnerships model by fostering productive relationships, bidirectional learning and international collaboration. A joint UK-Africa fellowship will create a diverse, resilient network of leaders equipped to drive AMS initiatives on a national scale and beyond, supporting long-term sustainability and succession planning.
Substandard and Falsified Medicines (SFMeds) Champions
SFMeds was a focus of CwPAMS 2.0, with a series of webinars taking place to explore the country-specific challenges present in all CwPAMS countries. A CPA SFMeds Continuing Professional Development course to raise awareness and knowledge was also developed and implemented.
The need for access to safe and effective medicines in paramount for human and animal healthcare, and as such will remain an area of focus for CwPAMS 2.5 with the introduction of SFMeds Champions: a training programme for healthcare professionals to empower them to become local leaders in creating awareness of and advocate for reporting of SFMeds.
The SFMeds Champions scheme is a proof of concept for a scalable train-the-trainer programme as a means of retaining trained personnel and ensuring a continuous supply of skilled workers – the hope is that the success of this model will result in its application to other practice areas in future.
Optimising Diagnostic Practices to Support Delivery of AMS Action Plans
Informed by scoping from the previous phase, we encourage teams to produce high-quality microbiology data so this can be utilised by the clinical teams. Key actions include diagnostic needs assessments, antibiogram impact evaluation, and microbiology toolkit integration. To maximise impact and avoid duplication, we will collaborate strategically with microbiology programmes, both within and outside of the Fleming Fund, to support the effective implementation of AMS action plans to enhance patient care.
Strategic Scoping for CwPAMS Sustainability
We will conduct a comprehensive scoping exercise to analyse the broader policy and stakeholder landscape with respect to CwPAMS. Building on existing evidence and engagement from previous phases, this activity will explore sustainable exit strategies and potential future programme directions through a health systems strengthening lens. The outcome will be evidence-based recommendations for strengthening, exiting, or pivoting CwPAMS, aligning with global health policy shifts and a robust health systems approach.
Broadening the Community and Primary Care Engagement
Building on the momentum of the World Health Organisation in this area, we will conduct a scoping exercise to assess the current landscape of antimicrobial use, AMR awareness, AMS activities and infection prevention initiatives within community and primary healthcare settings.
This will build on the AMS and AMR awareness activities undertaken in hospitals during the previous CwPAMS programmes to ensure consistent messaging across healthcare systems.
CPA and GHP look forward to sharing the development and invaluable work undertaken by the CwPAMS health partnerships. Stay up to date with CwPAMS by following CPA and GHP’s social media pages below.
About CwPAMS and the Fleming Fund
The Department of Health and Social Care’s 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 Fleming Fund invests in strengthening data surveillance systems through a portfolio of country grants, regional grants and fellowships managed by Mott MacDonald, and global projects managed by partners.