The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has issued alarm over a resurgence of drug resistance diseases on the continent, threatening decades of health and development gains.
The Africa CDC, in its latest study titled “Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership,” released Wednesday, said the “alarming rate” of antimicrobial resistance across 14 African countries poses an urgent continental public health threat.
The Africa CDC, in its study known as the Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership (MAAP), highlighted the growing spread of drug resistance across 14 African countries, underscoring the urgent need to strengthen laboratory testing, data systems, and health planning to tackle hard-to-treat infections.
The study, which is the largest of its kind ever conducted in Africa, was led by a coalition including the Africa CDC, the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), One Health Trust, and other regional partners.
It said researchers reviewed more than 187,000 test results from 205 laboratories, collected between 2016 and 2019 across Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
One of the most concerning findings was that resistance to a powerful group of antibiotics, known as third-generation cephalosporins, was especially high in Ghana and Malawi.
In six countries, more than half of the Staphylococcus aureus samples were resistant to methicillin—an antibiotic commonly used in hospitals. In Nigeria and Ghana, resistance levels exceeded 70 percent, the study revealed.
The study also revealed demographic disparities in drug-resistant infections, with older adults and hospitalised patients being particularly vulnerable. It said the existing demographic disparities underscore the need for targeted interventions to protect at-risk populations.
The Africa CDC also highlighted “serious gaps” in laboratory infrastructure and data collection systems. Findings reveal that fewer than 2 percent of health facilities were equipped to test for bacterial infections, and only 12 percent of drug resistance records were linked to patient information.
According to the study, patients already admitted to hospitals had a 24 per cent higher risk, likely due to increased exposure to antibiotics. Previous use of antibiotics was also linked to higher resistance.
MG/as/APA