Progressing Towards a Higher Joint External Evaluation Capacity Level for Uganda

As an early member of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) and signatory to the International Health Regulations (IHR), Uganda has shown commitment to supporting the fight against the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). However, it still contends with resistant microbes, e.g., over 30% of surgical-site infections are from resistant microbes, and 58% of isolates from nosocomial infections in intensive care units are multi-drug resistant. The JEE is a tool developed by the WHO (World Health Organization) to map and measure a country’s capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health emergencies. Uganda conducted its first JEE assessment in 2017 in collaboration with WHO, scoring capacity 3 for both Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS). Despite its efforts, Uganda has not yet fully met the required core capacities under the IHR.

This technical brief summarizes MTaPS’ approach to improving Uganda’s JEE capacity level for multisectoral coordination, IPC, and AMS, including steps to strengthen leadership at the national level and to establish governance structures at the district and health facility levels. MTaPS’ systems-strengthening approach has supported Uganda’s progress towards a higher JEE score, as demonstrated by the increasing number of WHO Benchmark actions for IHR capacities completed.