Malawi-Wales Antimicrobial Pharmacist Partnership
Empowering Pharmacists in Malawi
Lead partners of the CwPAMS 1.5 Malawi-Wales Antimicrobial Pharmacist Partnership consisted of the:
Pharmaceutical Society of Malawi (PHASOM)
Kamuzu Central Hospital(KCH)
Mzuzu Central Hospital(MCH); and
Welsh Antimicrobial Pharmacist Group (WAPG)
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board in Wales(BCUHB)
PHASOM and WAPG agreed to develop a Health Partnership with the aim of fostering cooperation and the exchange of knowledge and skills in the areas of antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Volunteers from UK and Malawi worked on this project with assistance from a project manager, the Tropical Health and Education Trust (THET) and Commonwealth Pharmacists Association (CPA) in-country consultant.
Work carried out contributed to the NAP Strategic Key 1 on improving awareness and understanding of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) through effective communication, education and training.
Achievements included Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) Leads trained on KPI development, installation of TV screens in the two hospitals for dissemination of awareness videos and 120 total health workers trained in sessions conducted by lead pharmacists.
Positive feedback from participants on the relevance of training and the partnership was also highly commended in the Best New Partnership Category at the Hub Cymru Africa Partnership Awards.
Future plans include:
- Dissemination of results at a National AMR Conference
- Extend the project to other referral hospitals
- Aim: To train other pharmacists in the other major referral hospitals to increase impact
- To allow the Global PPS comparison to be done in-country
- Get training material validated for CPD accreditation
- Have professional bodies validate training material for participants to earn CPD points
- Meet the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for Wales
“Through our partnership with The Welsh Antimicrobial Pharmacists Group (WAPG) we carried out the Global PPS at both Kamuzu Central Hospital(KCH) and Mzuzu Central Hospital ( MCH), we also developed an AMS training and development toolkit and managed to train a total of 120 health care workers . We strongly believe our work will continue to make a meaningful impact in the lives of patients in both these sites as the training toolkit was adopted by their Management to train more healthcare workers.”
William Freloh Mpute, Pharmacist and Life Coach, Blantyre, Malawi
About the CPA
The CPA works to support pharmacists in strengthening healthcare systems; through the safe and effective use of medicines, improving access and quality of medicines and vaccines, and the prevention of disease and promoting healthy lifestyles. Through their government channels, they are vocal advocates for improved access and quality of medicines and vaccines; embedding pharmacists at all levels of medicines management to achieve this goal.
About THET
THET has a vision of a world where everyone has access to healthcare. We achieve this by training and educating health workers in Africa and Asia, working in partnership with organisations and volunteers from across the UK. Founded in 1988 by Professor Sir Eldryd Parry, we are the only UK charity with this focus.
About the Fleming Fund
The Fleming Fund is a £265 million UK aid investment managed by the Department of Health and Social Care to tackle antimicrobial resistance by supporting low- and middle-income countries to generate, use and share data on AMR