National Action Plans (NAPs) are essential tools used by governments to address the global threat posed by antimicrobial resistance (AMR). NAPs provide a framework of sequence of actions to align activities of different stakeholders in different sectors toward one large goal of mitigating AMR.
In 2017, the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ), with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) developed its first NAP for AMR (2017-2022)1.
The NAP for AMR (2017-2022) was implemented across the human and animal health, agriculture, and environment sectors. A multi-sectoral coordinating committee was set up, with members from the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC), the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water & Rural Development (MoLAFWRD) and the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism & Hospitality Industry (MoECTHI) to oversee the implementation of the NAP for AMR (2017-2022).
Zimbabwe’s NAP for AMR (2017-2022) is concluding at the end of this year. Preparations for the new NAP for (2023-2027) are already underway. FAO’s Progressive Management Pathway for AMR tool was used to evaluate the implementation progress, gaps and challenges of the first NAP. One of the gaps identified was poor costing and budgeting. Therefore, the WHO conducted a 3-day training of 14 National Costing Coordinators using the recently launched WHO costing and budgeting tool for the AMR NAP 2. The costing tool seeks to assist countries to coordinate and budget for the successful implementation of AMR NAPs. Costing coordinators are being trained to optimally use resources to achieve the best possible outcome for the implementation of the NAP.
In his welcoming remarks, MoHCC Chief Director of Public Health, Dr Munyaradzi Dobbie emphasized on the importance of planning, costing and budgeting NAPs on AMR.
The training took place in Kadoma from 21-23 June 2022, 14 costing coordinators from the Ministry of Health and Child Care, the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water & Rural Development and the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism & Hospitality Industry now have the technical capacity to cost and budget for the new AMR NAP. The WHO AMR experts Dr Alessandro Patriarchi and Mr Paul Verboom, taught participants key components and functionalities of the tool and provided them with hands-on training of its usage through a series of practical exercises.
“This is one of the most robust, but simplest excel model costing tools that I have ever seen. I can now cost any project using this model, even animal health and welfare, and food safety projects” noted Dr Lawrence Dinginya, Acting Deputy Director of Veterinary Public Health who was one of the participants from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water & Rural Development.