For the past three years, Ohio State’s Global One Health initiative (GOHi) has dedicated substantial resources to partner facilities in Ethiopia enhancing their capacity to provide microbiology services and implement infection prevention and control practices. This work is all part of the Global Action in Healthcare Network – Antimicrobial Resistance (GAIHN-AR), which is a global network of healthcare facilities, laboratories and infection, prevention and control (IPC) teams.
Following GAIHN-AR standards, GOHi builds capacity within healthcare settings to protect patients and healthcare providers from antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threats through best practices.
Recently, GOHi has provided additional equipment and supplies to collaborating hospitals, ensuring sustainability and encouraging the expansion of project initiatives to additional units within these facilities. This effort has notably advanced IPC practices and bolstered laboratory capabilities in AMR management, setting a benchmark for other healthcare facilities in Ethiopia.
Continuous collaboration with hospital leadership is crucial to integrate the necessary budgetary and technical requirements into routine operations, ensuring the long-term provision and sustainability of comprehensive microbiologic services and effective IPC practices. This is particularly important as the project is entering its final year of implementation.
Recognizing these challenges, GOHi AMR project staff have encouraged leadership of Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital and Zewditu Memorial Hospital to devise strategies to maintain the progress achieved over the past three years.
Through these efforts, GOHi has not only enhanced the capacity of facilities to manage AMR but has also provided a model for other African nations and resource-limited settings to strengthen their ability to combat AMR beyond the initial project scope.