Meeting with the Director of Saint Louis Regional Hospital, his colleagues, and Prof. Seynabou, mentor for the project.
The aim of this first field mission was to identify sites for integrated antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance in the Saint Louis region in Senegal; the Dakar region will also be included in the project, in a second field mission.
Five types of sampling sites were defined for the study:
- Hospital wastewater Urban wastewater
- Slaughterhouse sewage water
- Fish pond water
- Inland freshwater withdrawal site
The first field mission provided an opportunity to visit potential sites for the study. Three of the Fleming Fund Fellowship program’s ten beneficiaries visited the Saint Louis regional laboratory and the aquaculture department of the Université Gaston Berger de Saint Louis.
These two sites are run respectively by Prof Seynabou Lô and Dr Robane Faye, both mentors within the program. The delegation then enjoyed a guided tour of several stations of the Office National de l’Assainissement du Sénégal , including pumping and purification stations, before moving on to the Station d’Initiation Aquacole, a private fish production farm.
A meeting was also held with the Director of Saint Louis Hospital, followed by a tour of the hospital’s internal sewage system. The mission ended with a visit to the Saint Louis slaughterhouse, an integrated Agriculture, Poultry and Aquaculture farm and the Diama dam.
From the visits, the following were selected for the study: four urban wastewater sampling sites, one slaughterhouse effluent sampling site, two continental water sampling sites and two fish production sites.
The project plans to map surveillance wastewater and continental water sampling sites in the Saint Louis and Dakar regions, to detect AMR markers.
Pilot study for integrated AMR surveillance in Senegal
As part of the Fleming Fellowship Scheme, the collaborative project aims to provide a practical space for the beneficiary fellows to apply the skills acquired during training.
This project is designed and delivered to involve a wide range stakeholders, to foster collaboration and a shared vision between the various One Health disciplines.
The ten fellows of the program in Senegal, coordinated by the Mérieux Foundation, have chosen, in consultation with their mentors, their collaborative project on the implementation of integrated AMR surveillance in Senegal. This study aims to map sites – or hotspots – of AMR by analyzing water zones associated with the human, animal and environmental sectors for the presence of resistant enterobacteria.
The study will focus on two regions of the country, Saint Louis and Dakar. It will describe water contamination levels in the three sectors, characterize resistance and compare the results obtained at the different sampling sites. Antibiotic use and prescription practices at the sample sites will also be studied.
The project will help strengthen the sharing of data on integrated AMR surveillance in Senegal, support advocacy for greater involvement of decision-makers in the fight against drug resistance and raise awareness of responsible antimicrobial use among healthcare professionals and the community.
About the Fleming Fund Fellowship Scheme
The Fleming Fund’s Fellowship Scheme aims to support the development of skills and capabilities of professionals and decision-makers in the field of AMR.
The program encourages peer-to-peer learning through mentoring, as well as One Health Communities of Practice. Fellows are mainly selected from governmental public institutions to strengthen national AMR response capacities.
In Senegal, the Mérieux Foundation acts as the project’s host institution, coordinating the program by, for example, coordinating funding and selecting the most suitable experts to support the implementation of training activities.
About the Fleming Fund
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)’s Fleming Fund is a UK aid program 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 Mérieux Foundation has been selected for the Fellowship Scheme and Country Grants in Lao PDR and Senegal, as well as the Africa Regional Grant program to provide clinical engagement technical assistance for the Africa region.