Estimating the costs of AMR in Ghana

In view of the current rise in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) globally, this study would provide valuable insights into the current and future costs associated with AMR. The study would provide an overview/database of the costs of AMR in Ghana which would be publicly available to relevant stakeholders and the public.

Dr Raymond Oppong

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) poses a serious threat on health and development resulting in huge socioeconomic burden in the world. The WHO Report (2014) declared AMR as one of the top ten global public health threats to humans, animals, plants and the environment. It is estimated that annually, approximately 5 million people die every year, with the majority of the mortality happening in Low and Middle-Income countries (Murray et al., 2022). Murray et al. (2022) identified Ghana as a hotspot for the emergence of AMR in Sub-Saharan Africa. In view of this, the government of Ghana has deliberately undertaken focused efforts to address the problem. As part of the concerted efforts, the government has drawn a National AMR Action Plan and Policy to tackle the significantly increasing incidence, mortality, disability, prolonged hospital stays and increasing financial costs of AMR and lessen its burden in Ghana. Globally, it is difficult to accurately estimate the economic costs associated with AMR at the societal, hospital and patient levels due to several factors including uncertainty associated with the development of resistance (Coast et al. 1996). This study will provide useful and up-to-date data on the costs associated with AMR in Ghana.

This research will help reduce the majority of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) deaths prevented. Also Control policies would substantially reduce the number of hospital days. Since medicines would be taken correctly. Furthermore, implementation costs would be largely offset by the savings generated, due to strategies, such as enhanced environmental hygiene. Education interventions promoting effective use of antimicrobials and unnecessary use of antimicrobials is a key driver of AMR.

Again, the research will help as it can lead to a substantial reduction in antimicrobial prescribing and cost-savings and also users would spend less on medicines. AMR control policies in a broader policy package would generate overall effects (in terms of disease burden and healthcare expenditure) close to the sum of the effects of the individual component policies

Our main target audience we are working to help include Policy makers, Medical practioners and general public. We seek to provide them with an estimate that would clearly describe the extent of the problem of AMR in the study. We will continue to achieve continuous interaction through presentations, publications and conference sessions with interviews and questionnaires to get their views and thinking. We hope to engage stakeholders and funders to develop solution through a survey.

It would help reduce the cost of antibiotics in the world since abuse would be minimized through education of right usage and the right prescription made to avoid continuous intake of medicine leading to abuse. This would enhance welfare of individuals, society and reduction of expenses borne by the government in the purchase or importation of drugs if not readily available internally. The findings of this work would be published in a peer reviewed journal both in print and online for the public to gain knowledge and practitioners and policy makers to take a cue from the work and make informed policy recommendation.

In view of the current rise in antibiotic resistance globally, estimating the costs of AMR in Ghana would have several tangible benefits to not only Ghana but other Low and Middle Income Countries(LMICs) as well.  

The information generated would be useful to decision/policy makes as it would enable them to comprehend the extent of the problem associated with AMR. The data generated would also be useful to the general public, governments, clinicians and all other relevant stakeholders as it would enable them to comprehend the magnitude  of the problem and the potential consequences. The cost data generated would provide decision makers with empirical evidence about the magnitude of the problem. Estimating the cost would further provide evidence to support the need to take appropriate action.  There are not enough empirical studies to quantify the costs in Ghana e.g. we do not know many people are dying as a result of antibiotic resistance and more Ghanaian context specific data is needed to support this. Estimating the costs would fill an important gap in Ghana. 

Please see attached reports for further details 

The methodology and framework for the estimation of the costs associated with AMR that would be developed would serve as a framework that can be deployed across Africa and other LMICs. 

As part of the project we would set up an advisory board who would be responsible for evaluating the progress of the project. The feedback we receive from them would be one of the indicators of the success of our study.

There are numerous barriers that hinder the fight against AMR and its abuse but the dominant ones that exist in Ghana are inadequate awareness and education, poor healthcare systems, access to good data and inadequate resources. Our estimation will not only unveil the severity of the economic burden of AMR on society in the face of limited health resources but more so the needfulness to heighten public education and awareness. The cost estimate for AMR will be grouped into various parts to show areas of possible investment potential for private sector participations to aid in the fight. Additionally, we intend to publish and present our findings to stakeholders by way contribute to the education and awareness drive. This work and other previous studies by the team will consolidate government efforts for the need for more donor funding from developed nations, external institutions and organizations to support research, education and the public awareness of AMR in LMICs.

We acknowledge that this is quite a difficult task and accurately estimating the costs associated with AMR would require significant time and investments. We therefore believe that the Trinity Challenge on AMR would present us with an opportunity to estimate these costs.  By applying for the Trinity Challenge, we would be able to secure the right level of funding and investments that is needed to undertake this innovative task of accurately estimating the costs associated with AMR. 

In addition to research organisations, we intend to work with governmental agencies, international agencies as well as charities. 

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