The residents and members of the communities across villages in Uasin Gishu County have reportedly embraced behaviour change in the use of drugs across all sectors of human, animal and plant health, a significant success in the fight against Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR).
The disease is driven by inappropriate behaviors associated with misuse and overuse of antimicrobials.
The achievement underscores the key role played by Community Health Promoters (CHPs) who through their tireless efforts have continued to sensitize the residents at the household level across various villages in Uasin Gishu to uphold proper measures pertaining use of antibiotics in order to avert the risks of AMR.
These measures include correct use of antibiotics like only taking them when prescribed by a healthcare provider for a bacterial infection and not substituting them for other uses like treating common cold which they are not intended for.
Additionally, the patients are urged to complete the full prescription even if they start to feel better since stopping early can allow some bacteria to survive and develop resistance.
Sharing of antibiotics left over after treatment of a certain infection is another contrary way of use since what worked for one infection may not work for another and could contribute to resistance.
Other practical habits residents were advised to strengthen the fight against infection is practicing good hygiene by washing hands frequently with soap and water especially after using the bathroom, before eating, and after coughing or sneezing, ensuring food safety, and staying up to date on vaccinations.
The Kenya Red Cross AMR Stewardship team welcomes the achievement as a milestone especially as the country is set to mark the World AMR Awareness Week 2025 from November 18 to 24 with the theme “Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future” to raise awareness and promote action against antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The campaign encourages best practices across all sectors, from the public and healthcare workers to policymakers and farmers, to combat the spread of drug-resistant pathogens.
One of the success stories is one of Irene Chepkoech from Aturei village in Kapseret Sub County who embraced AMR campaign messages communicated by Community Health Promoters (CHPs) during house-to-house sensitization exercise to educate the community of the danger posed by the global AMR menace.
After having been sick for about eight months without any sign of recovery as she only relied on over the counter drugs and traditional medicine to treat an unknown illness, Chepkoech decided to seek treatment from the nearby public health facility as advised by one of the CHP from the area.
“I have been sick since January 2025 noting really knowing what I am suffering from. After being educated by the CHP AMR team, I went and sought treatment at Kapteldon Sub County Hospital. I was diagnosed and recommended for surgery to get rid of what was troubling me for all that time,” she explained.
“I later realized that the issue came about as I was using family planning drugs wrongly, I did not take doses consistently, it later caused me serious problems as I started to experience prolonged bleeding which was even threatening my life. The doctors diagnosed my problem and I underwent surgery and since then I am recovering well,” added Chepkemoi.
She noted that since then, she learnt from her past mistakes and continued taking the prescriptions consistently after surgery and she is living happily now.
She expressed her gratitude to the county AMR team for sensitizing her and has also vowed to educate other residents after she realized they are going through what she had been ailing from for such a long posing threat to her life.
Chepkoech’s neighbours embraced her advice and sought treatment from qualified healthcare providers and have received help and recovered.
The people reported reduced infection rate at the family level after they observed behaviour change on drug use as per AMR guidelines.
“One of the grandmothers reported healthy growth after stopping borrowing unused medicine and over the counter drugs from neighbours. After she was recommended by the CHPs to go to hospital, she experienced good improvement in her health after she received treatment from the health facility,” observed one of the CHPs.
“People are taking our public messages positively; behaviour change is a gradual process. For those who used to share doses with the original patient after recovering have stopped and regret their actions. Despite our efforts, there are some who are still adamant and continue with their old ways of using drugs,” added the CHP.
Eunice Tuwei a resident from Kamosong Village, Uasin Gishu, said she discovered that seeking treatment from a qualified physician at any health facility is good benefit since one is treated with right medicine for right disease as compared to when one walks by one of the dispensing outlets and buys over the counter medicine without any prescription, which is pure guesswork at the expense of one’s health.
“I saw one of our neighbours who had some kind of swelling on her breast. She was so worried that it might be cancer. She was advised to go and see the doctor and she was diagnosed and treated for her condition. The good news to her was that the issue was not even a sign of cancer as she had thought,” narrated Tuwei.
“We were taught to separate knapsack sprayers, one for plants and another for animals. We were urged to pour milk after deworming and resume consuming after 72 hours. We have since seen improvement in both our animal and plant health after we observed the best practices,” noted Susan Singoei from Kapkenduiywo village.
Mark Cheruiyot a CHP from Kapteldon Village Tabarin B area, narrated the experience of one of the family members he had paid a visit to sensitize on AMR threat on animal health. He had informed the family to stop consuming and even selling milk after deworming their cows, but the head of the family was a bit hesitant to trust the CHP. He decided to experiment himself by feeding the milk from dewormed cow to dog, cat and chicken which after a short while began to take effect.
“He really saw the effect with his eyes and said the drug is truly harmful to humans if its effect has even extended to cause unusual behaviour exhibited by the dog and other pets. The pets began to defecate thoroughly, a clear sign that the deworming drug in milk had taken undesired effect,” noted Cheruiyot.
The health institutions across the sub counties have also reported successful steps in curbing Antimicrobial Resistance through robust infection prevention and control (IPC) measures like ensuring high levels of hygiene, carrying out antimicrobial stewardship programs to educate patients on the proper use of antibiotics while at the same time contributing to surveillance and research efforts.
Liza Kimuge a Public Health Officer (PHO) at Kapteldon Sub County Hospital indicated that even the healthcare providers both in public and private hospitals now do follow ups on patients who had received prescribed medicine from the facilities to ensure they complete the dosage before they get another prescription.
She described an instance where a patient was given a dose of a certain illness and after a few days, the person returned again requesting another prescription before finishing the previous. The PHO asked the patient to return the previous dose which the patient claimed was not effective for proper disposal before another one was prescribed.
The action taken by the public health officer was key to ensuring the person could not use the medicine for other purposes like sharing with neighbours, a significant step in preventing antimicrobial resistance.
“Even us nowadays, we are keen on following up patients whom we have given some medicine to ensure they fulfil the whole dosage. If one returns and asks for other medication, we normally demand them to produce the unfinished ones before we change the prescription,” explained Kimuge.
The development comes in over a year period after The Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) launched a County Antimicrobial Stewardship Inter Agency Committee (CASIC) in June 2024 to implement a two-year project on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in collaboration with Uasin Gishu County.
The committee, chaired by the County Commissioner, Department of Health Services, veterinary services, and learning institutions, aims to strengthen the capacities of four East African countries, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia, to prevent and respond to the growing scourge of AMR.
The project dubbed Regional One Health Organization for Keeping East Threats (ROHOKET) from Antimicrobial Resistance, a multi-country project tackling antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in East Africa, embraces one health approach in governance and coordination through national and county AMR steering groups, knowledge and evidence through surveillance and research, improving awareness and understanding of antimicrobial resistance through effective communication, education, and training, reducing infection incidence through effective sanitation, hygiene, and infection prevention and control measures, and developing an economic case study for sustainable investment.
Dr. Paul Olale, the Project Officer for AMR Stewardship in Uasin Gishu County, explained that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness, and death.
“As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines become ineffective, and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat. Members of the public in the community are the primary targets of this global threat since they have no knowledge; there is a need to educate them in order to reduce threats posed by AMR,” he said.
He reiterated that the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in humans, animals, and plants are the main drivers in the development of drug-resistant pathogens.
This act not only endangers human health but also compromises the safety of food products consumed in the community, like chicken meat, since they will contain traces of the wrongly administered drugs, which in turn play a great role in contributing to drug resistance.
AMR affects countries in all regions and at all income levels. Its drivers and consequences are exacerbated by poverty and inequality, and low- and middle-income countries are most affected.
According to the WHO, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is estimated to be responsible for around 700,000 deaths per year. In 2019, bacterial AMR was directly responsible for 1.27 million deaths globally and contributed to 4.95 million deaths. It is feared that, unless checked, AMR could potentially cause 10 million deaths by 2050.
The statistics by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation indicate that AMR represents a global challenge, and the burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Kenya revealed in 2019 that there were 8,500 deaths attributable to AMR and 37,300 deaths associated with AMR.
Additionally, Kenya has the 28th highest age-standardized mortality rate per 100,000 population associated with AMR across 204 countries.
The number of AMR deaths in Kenya is higher than deaths from neoplasms, enteric infections, maternal and neonatal disorders, digestive diseases, and diabetes and kidney diseases.
by Ekuwam Sylvester
