Ethiopia is set to launch a web-based antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data application tool, eAMR CONNECT that will contribute to a more robust and integrated AMR surveillance system, enabling timely and evidence-based responses. AMR occurs when pathogens change over time and no longer respond to medicines. Ethiopia's AMR crisis requires a unified One Health approach, yet existing data is often siloed within individual sectors; human, animal, environment and suffers from limited laboratory-based surveillance, questionable accuracy, and accessibility challenges. This affects collaboration and informed decision-making.
Ethiopia is one of the few countries in Africa that has a costed, multisectoral antimicrobial resistance national action plan, signed by the ministries overseeing the human, animal and environmental sectors. The plan includes the integration of antimicrobial surveillance and stewardship into the health emergency response and at a primary health care level, supported by policy makers, health managers, health professionals and the public. However, availability and access to credible multisectoral data remains a challenge, crippling surveillance efforts.
Workeabeba Abebe, the eAMR CONNECT project lead and professor of Paediatrics at the Department of paediatrics, Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH)/College of Health Sciences (CHS), Addis Ababa University said,
'the tool will enable access to data in a multisectoral format, thereby informing policy, interventions, and research as well as improving AMR control and prevention efforts across the country’.
The tool consolidates diverse data sources, ensuring comparability, timeliness, and accessibility for One Health stakeholders. Utilizing open-source data identified through robust search strategies and guided by standard operating procedures (SOPs), the platform's artificial intelligence component will extract, classify, and summarize relevant information. This process will generate outputs on resistant pathogen types, patterns, infections, prevalence, and regional trends, providing targeted summaries for efficient retrieval and use. The platform's potential for scalability includes enhanced reporting mechanisms for raw data input and real-time geolocation and tracing of AMR trends.
Sand pit project
The eAMR CONNECT project is one of eight projects funded by the Capacitating One Health in Eastern and Southern Africa (COHESA) project following a call for multidisciplinary One Health project proposals to address local challenges, across the 12 COHESA countries. As part of the Sandpit process, teams pitch their proposals and the winning pitches are promoted, receive funding as well as technical support and mentoring from COHESA.
The eAMR CONNECT project team comprises of researchers from various institutions in Ethiopia, including Addis Ababa University, Ministry of Agriculture, University of Gondar, Ethiopian Agricultural Authority Food safety and Ethiopian Roads Administration.
The project draws inspiration from successful digital AMR surveillance systems implemented in India and Nepal.