A One Health approach to fight antimicrobial resistance in Uganda: Implementation experience, results, and lessons learned

•There is a need to analyse international approaches that support a country’s pathway to progressive capacity levels, as per the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) and the World Health Organization (WHO) benchmarks on International Health Regulations (IHR) capacities for antimicrobial resistance (AMR).•Our interventions addressed 32 WHO benchmark actions (7 for multisectoral coordination on AMR, 16 for infection prevention and control, and 9 for antimicrobial stewardship, contributing to Uganda’s strengthened Global Health Security Agenda capacity through a One Health approach.•Completing the WHO benchmark actions is critical to the advancement of Uganda’s capacity levels on the JEE including coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and the Ebola virus disease. Uganda has been implementing the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) since 2015 to build its capacity according to World Health Organization (WHO) Benchmarks on International Health Regulations Capacities. The country remains prone to outbreaks, with more than 20 disease outbreaks reported in the past five years, including Ebola virus disease, Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, Marburg haemorrhagic fever, measles, yellow fever, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and cholera. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an ongoing challenge. Uganda scored capacity level 3 on infection prevention and control (IPC) and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in the 2017 Joint External Evaluation (JEE) assessment. Identified gaps were being addressed after a self-assessment in 2021. This paper describes the technical assistance approaches provided to Uganda by the Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services Program, funded by the United States (U.S.) Agency for International Development, and implemented by Management Sciences for Health. The program, through a One Health approach, supported systematic capacity strengthening based on the JEE’s capacity advancement framework for global health security, specifically relating to AMR. The program’s interventions impacted 32 WHO benchmark actions (7 for AMR multisectoral coordination, 16 for IPC, and 9 for AMS), contributing to Uganda’s strengthened GHSA capacity. Leveraging success built on the AMR platform, the program trained 745 health workers in IPC for the Ebola virus and provided support for simulation exercises by eight district IPC teams. The program also worked with the Ministry of Health to coordinate IPC for the COVID-19 response in five health regions, covering