Fleming Fund

Fleming Fund AMR project for Bhutan (Country Grant)

This first Fleming Fund Country Grant for Bhutan is aimed on putting in place the foundations for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial use (AMU) surveillance in the human and animal health sectors. It will facilitate a stronger One Health approach to surveillance bringing together multi-sectoral stakeholders to share surveillance data and gain a better understanding of AMR and AMU. The overall goal is to avert the public health and economic burden of AMR.

In the Animal Health Sector, the National Centre for Animal Health (NCAH) is identified as the beneficiary institute and National Food testing laboratory BAFRA, Regional livestock Development Centre (RLDC), Kanglung and the then RLDC, Tshimasham as surveillance laboratories for the project. Total grant allotted for Bhutan is £1,559, 560.76 of which £440, 169.299 is allotted for AMR and AMU surveillance in food animal and animal health. The inception phase was completed in October 2019 and the implementation of the detail technical implementation plan (DTiP) started from 3rd week of December 2019.

Though the grant was expected to be implemented for 18 months, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the project was extended till March 2024.

 Major activities carried out

  1. Development of microbiology capacity for AMR surveillance – NCAH, RLDC Kanglung, RLDC Tshimasham, NFTL BAFRA
  2. Surveillance plan development
  3. Enhancement of Data base system for AMR & AMU (VIS, G2C, LIMS)
  4. Surveillance carried out in local live chicken (DoL) and chicken meat (BAFRA).
  5. Construction of sheep sheds (NCAH, RLDC Kanglung, Zhemgang, Tshimasham) for making reliable source of sheep blood for bacteriology for both human and animal health.

 Fleming Fellowship

In addition to the country grant, the Fleming Fund also funded Fleming Fellowship Scheme to provide continuing professional development and leadership training opportunities for relevant fellows.  Several Fleming Fellowships are provided to Bhutan out of which three are for the animal health. Animal Health fellowships are:

  1. AMR Surveillance Fellowship (NCAH)-1
  2. AMR Laboratory Fellowship (NCAH)-1
  3. AMC/U (Antimicrobial consumption and use) Fellowship (NVH)-1
  4. Antimicrobial stewardship & Farm Biosecurity Fellowship (RLDC + BAFRA)-2
  5. Policy Fellowship (NCAH)-1
  6. AMR surveillance Food testing Laboratory fellowship (NFTL)-1

The Fellowships provided customized professional development to the fellows however, no formal degree or a diploma were awarded from the Host Institution.

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