IVES Professor to lead AMR surveillance programme in Kenya
Professor Eric Fèvre, Chair of Veterinary Infectious Diseases at the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, has been appointed Principal Scientist of the Fleming Fund Country Grant for Kenya, led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
The £4 million fund will support the process of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) monitoring in the country, improving infrastructure and training specialists to work across human and animal health sectors. AMR poses a growing global threat to both human and animal populations, hindering our ability to treat a broad range of infectious and life-threatening diseases.
The grant lead, Nairobi-based Professor Fèvre in his role within ILRI, has welcomed the beginning of the second phase of the Fleming Fund project, saying: “The previous phase saw the construction of laboratory infrastructure and training of staff across Kenya. This next phase builds on that established infrastructure, supporting researchers in collaborating with the government to improve AMR surveillance in the poultry sector and establishing new and innovative ways to carry out passive and active surveillance in dairy cattle.”
Phase II also aims to enhance surveillance within hospitals across the country to improve patient outcomes from antibiotic treatment and establish new systems to routinely survey the environment for drug-resistant pathogens.
Professor Fèvre added: “We are very excited about the potential of this Phase II Fleming Fund grant to support implementation of long term, sustainable surveillance for antimicrobial resistance in the health, livestock and environment sectors in Kenya.”
The Fleming Fund was established in 2015 in response to the UK AMR Review and the WHO Global Action Plan on AMR, which called for funding to improve AMR surveillance, public awareness, and responsible drug use
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)'s Fleming Fund is a UK aid programme supporting up to 25 countries across Africa and Asia to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a leading contributor to deaths from infectious diseases worldwide. The Fleming Fund invests in strengthening AMR surveillance systems through a portfolio of country grants, regional grants and fellowships managed by Mott MacDonald, and global projects managed by DHSC.
The announcement of the Fleming Fund grant for Kenya follows our recent news on the funding of an AMR Institute based in Liverpool supported by Centres for Antimicrobial Optimisation Network (CAMO-Net)
You can read more about the Fleming Fund here.