The International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS) is pleased to announce the establishment of its new regional presence, ICARS Africa. Funded through its partnership with Wellcome, ICARS Africa will be hosted by Amref Health Africa at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. This new chapter also marks the start of ICARS’ partnership with Amref, which shares ICARS’ commitment to strengthening health systems and addressing AMR through evidence-based, context-driven, and sustainable approaches. In addition to hosting ICARS Africa, Amref and ICARS will develop collaborative AMR mitigation activities in Africa, leveraging each organisation’s strengths, networks, and mandates.
The establishment of ICARS Africa marks a significant step in the organisation’s commitment to supporting low-and middle-income countries (LMIC) across the continent to mitigate antimicrobial resistance (AMR). While AMR is a global crisis, African countries face a disproportionate burden, with the Africa CDC projecting that by 2050, AMR-associated deaths could quadruple to 4.1 million per year in the region.
“Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most pressing threats to Africa’s health security. Across the continent, Amref Health Africa is working with governments, communities, and regional institutions to strengthen AMR surveillance, stewardship, and health workforce capacity. This partnership with ICARS presents a timely opportunity to expand our footprint by bringing together like-minded institutions committed to African-led and evidence-informed solutions that can curb the AMR threat and deliver better health outcomes for the communities most at risk.” – Dr Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO, Amref Health Africa.
Through the creation of ICARS Africa, ICARS aims to strengthen and scale its efforts to support countries across Africa in developing context-specific, sustainable, and country-owned AMR solutions aligned with their National AMR Action Plans. ICARS currently supports over 20 projects in Africa, addressing a wide range of AMR challenges, from reducing unnecessary antibiotic use during surgeries to optimising vaccination and biosecurity practices in poultry production. To date, ICARS has committed more than USD 14 million to projects to mitigate AMR in Africa.
“ICARS Africa provides an exciting opportunity to build on our existing work in the region. By establishing a dedicated regional presence, ICARS can deepen collaborations, enhance capacity, and open new doors for innovative and transformative projects that respond directly to Africa’s unique priorities in the fight against AMR.” – Dr Sujith J Chandy, Executive Director, ICARS.
Establishing a regional presence will enable ICARS to ground its interventions more deeply in local realities, whilst also improving coordination, capacity-strengthening and knowledge sharing across African countries, which may have shared challenges.
“We are proud to celebrate this important milestone in ICARS’ mission to mitigate antimicrobial resistance where it matters most. The launch of ICARS Africa underscores our long-standing commitment to solutions that are shaped by national and regional priorities and driven by local expertise.” – Dr Henrik Caspar Wegener, Chair of ICARS’ Board.
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About the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS)
ICARS’ mission is to partner with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in their efforts to reduce drug-resistant infections. In partnership with LMIC ministries and local research institutions, ICARS co-develops interventions that provide evidence for context-specific, cost-effective solutions to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) suitable for sustainable scale-up.
Through the provision of funding and expertise, ICARS supports intervention and implementation research projects across the One Health spectrum to support countries’ AMR National Action Plans (NAP).
For further details, please visit: https://icars-global.org/ or email: communications@icars-global.org
About Amref Health Africa
Amref Health Africa, headquartered in Kenya, is the largest Africa-based international health and development organisation providing training and health services to over 20 million people annually in at least 30 countries in Africa. Amref Health Africa continues to evolve and innovate the approaches to increase sustainable health access among communities.
Amref manages a full range of medical and public health programmes tackling the most critical health challenges facing the continent – including global health emergencies, communicable and non-communicable disease, neglected tropical diseases, maternal and childcare, as well as water, sanitation, and climate change. Much of our credibility with local communities and African governments stems from the relationship and trust that we have built over the past 68 years. years. Our subsidiaries include: Amref Flying Doctors and the Amref International University.
Media Contact: Erick Achola, Global Communications Manager,Amref Health Africa –global.communications@amref.org
