Uganda has received three pioneering laboratory machines to speed up the process of testing and treating patients for bacterial infections as part of a UK/Uganda partnership aimed at tackling drug resistance.
The machines have been provided as a part of the Fleming Fund, a £265 million investment by UK Aid to tackle the growing threat of drug resistance in 24 low and middle-income countries around the world. One of the machines, a mass spectrometer MALDI-TOF, is the first of its kind in Uganda and identifies bacteria in just two minutes, compared with 18-48 hours for conventional testing.
The Infectious Disease Institute in Makerere University, the Fleming Fund’s implementing partner in Uganda, is helping to facilitate the training, in collaboration with medical equipment supplier (BD), as well as supporting the development of a national AMR surveillance strategy.
The launch of the Fleming Fund Country Grant in Africa’s partnership with BD took place on February 17, 2020, in Kampala. Through this agreement, BD will provide diagnostic equipment and informatics solutions that help aid in the diagnosis of infections and guide physicians to provide appropriate antimicrobial prescribing and use.
Speaking on the grant, Clinical Microbiologist for the Fleming Fund’s Management Agent, Mott MacDonald, Emmanuel Azore noted that treatment based on symptoms rather than laboratory testings and findings in Uganda has often resulted to misdiagnosis hence increasing the risk of drug resistance in patients.
“These new machines, specifically the MALDI-TOF, will speed up testing results, reduce human errors and ensure that more junior microbiologists can conduct diagnostic tests with accuracy,” he added.
This is the first major award under the new UK cross-government overseas development assistance strategy, contracted through the UK Department of Health and Social Care.
Photo Courtesy of Google
Story compiled by Jedidah Mwangi
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