Kakuma – May 15, 2026 (Public Communication and Media Relations)
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains one of Kenya’s biggest public health threats, weakening the effectiveness of life-saving antibiotics, negatively affecting human and animal health.
According to the 2025 National AMR Report, resistance to first-line and even some last-resort antibiotics is rising, threatening treatment outcomes across the country. Cases have also reported in Turkana.
To strengthen its response, the County Government of Turkana County, through the Strategic Preventive Health Programs department and in partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), has concluded a five-day multi-departmental Trainers of Trainers (TOT) training on Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS) and Diagnostic Stewardship.
The training brought together specialists from the health, livestock, and environment sectors to operationalise AMR governance under the county’s One Health Strategy.
The 2025 National AMR Report recommends scaling up antimicrobial stewardship interventions, strengthening Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) systems, regulating inappropriate antimicrobial sales and use, expanding surveillance systems, integrating environmental monitoring, and sustaining community awareness and multi-sectoral coordination.
AMS is a coordinated approach aimed at promoting responsible antimicrobial use in humans, animals, and agriculture, while diagnostic stewardship focuses on appropriate diagnostic testing, including proper specimen collection and pathogen identification.
The training sought to equip TOTs to champion AMS across human, animal, and environmental health systems by ensuring the right antimicrobial is prescribed to the right patient or animal, in the correct dosage, through the correct route, and at the right time.
Turkana County’s One Health Unit (COHU) Technical Working Group operates under the County AMS Interagency Committees and oversees surveillance of zoonotic diseases, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), and AMR. However, the AMR component had not yet been fully operationalised.
Chief Officer for Preventive and Promotive Health, Agnes Mana, warned that there is currently no treatment for AMR and urged the public to stop self-medication using over-the-counter drugs.
“Good stewardship and evidence-based treatment in ensuring the right usage and sale of antibiotics is key in mitigating resistance,” she said.
According to Deputy Director for Strategic Preventive Health Programs, Rotich Kipkorir, the training will help operationalise AMS under the One Health framework through the formation of the County Antimicrobial Stewardship Interagency Committee (CASIC), where the future County AMR Focal Person will report to COHU.
Assistant Director for Veterinary Services, Ezekiel Makori, said the training equips sectors with skills needed to strengthen antimicrobial and diagnostic stewardship.
“This training will give us the knowledge to become antimicrobial and diagnostic stewards towards providing a comprehensive defence against AMR,” he said.
The core pillars of AMS include multi-sectoral leadership and governance, accountability, expertise in antimicrobial use, evidence-based reporting, training, communication, quality improvement, and monitoring and evaluation.
Jennifer Njuhigu, Programs Officer at the Kenya National Public Health Institute (KNPHI) for QI/IPC/AMR, emphasised the importance of accurate data in strengthening preparedness and response systems.
“This is through the AMR Focal Person and AMR Technical Working Group under COHU to effectively generate AMR data and initiatives that will boost preparedness at both county and national levels,” she said.
Kipkorir noted that once the AMR structure is established, the county will roll out additional capacity-building activities to increase awareness and improve AMR data reporting.
Director for Laboratory Services, Alice Nataba, said the initiative will help strengthen laboratory systems, commodity management, and collaboration between clinicians and laboratory teams.
“This will reduce irrational use of antibiotics, strengthen the laboratory-clinical interface, and improve data reporting and monitoring of AMR interventions and preparedness,” she said.
Charles Mundia, Medical Officer at IRC’s Amusait General Hospital in Kakuma, noted that human, animal, and environmental health systems are interconnected and must be addressed collectively under the One Health approach.
“The essence is to understand what the population is resistant to and bridge the current gap where people self-medicate using over-the-counter drugs,” he said.
Deputy Director for Community Health Services, Jonathan Longiti, said AMR remains poorly understood at community level despite increasing misuse of antibiotics.
“Community health structures will be the agents of change through routine visits, dialogue sessions, and health talks aimed at changing attitudes and behaviour,” he said.
The county also emphasised the importance of integrating Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures as part of the AMR response. These include hand hygiene, proper healthcare waste management, cleaning, disinfection, sterilisation, and cough etiquette to prevent the spread of infections and antimicrobial resistance across human, animal, and environmental settings.
