As part of the celebration of the Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Program’s (ARSP) 30th Anniversary, the RITM Antimicrobial Response Surveillance Reference Laboratory (ARSRL) hosted the annual meeting and research forum with the theme “Push on and Engage in the fight against Antimicrobial Resistance: our Legacy” on May 30, 2018 at the Acacia Hotel Manila.
Various officials from the Department of Health and representatives from different sentinel hospitals, attached agencies and other stakeholders attended the forum.
DOH Undersecretary Mario Villaverde graced the gathering with his keynote message. Dr. Celia Carlos, RITM Assistant Director and Head of ARSP, talked about the AMR surveillance system in the Philippines. The event also served as an avenue for a series of discussion on addressing the AMR problem in the Philippines and on ways to move towards an Integrated Philippine AMR surveillance throughout the forum.
Results of program performance evaluation and planned improvements in the implementation of the antimicrobial resistance surveillance program (ARSP) were discussed during the Annual Meeting held in the afternoon; as well as the steps to ensure alignment of the ARSP activities with the DOH programs and policies on rational antibiotics use.
The annual meeting also served as an avenue to provide laboratory technique updates to sentinel site personnel and discuss current guidelines on AMR testing, and to provide data management program updates to sentinel site personnel.
by Reina D. Manongsong, Communication and Engagement Office [RITM Web Team]