Infection Prevention and Control in Combating Antimicrobial Resistance in Sudan

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been a priority area identified by the Government of Sudan and development partners. This paper is part of a study in Sudan using the available documents covering relevant fields pertaining to AMR and interviews with key informants from World Health Organization office Sudan, Federal Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment and Ministry of General Education. Documents were obtained from relevant websites for policies, strategies, guidelines, reports, and plans as well relevant international and government agencies in Khartoum. The study was guided by the World Health Organization’s five strategic objectives of Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance. This paper focuses on the third objective on reducing the incidence of infection through effective sanitation, hygiene and infection prevention measures. The findings reveal, among others, weak collaboration among the relevant sectors to play their role in infection control and poor adherence to existing guidelines especially at health facilities in addition to scarcity of resources in terms of soap, water and other means to safeguard against infection. The study revealed that training workshops, regulatory measures, education and raising the awareness of the public play a complementary role in reducing infections. In conclusion, there is a need for strong collaboration between different ministries to deal with the problem of AMR under the concept of ‘one health’. Similarly, establishing regulatory measures enhancing compliance with the existing guidelines and the development of a roadmap to establish a national AMR surveillance system in Sudan and setting up laboratory-based nationwide surveillance of antimicrobial resistance is essential in order to establish a robust system to tackle the problem of AMR in the country.