Dr Samuel Afari-Asiedu wins the best oral presentation award at the UHAS Research Conference, Ho, Ghana.
November 24, 2023 | News | Reading time: 2 min
Dr. Samuel Afari-Asiedu, a Research Fellow/Medical Sociologist at the Kintampo Health Research Centre was adjudged to have delivered the best oral presentation at the Maiden University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) Research Conference which was held from 22-24 November, 2023 in Ho, Volta Region, Ghana. He received a plaque which was presented to him by the Vice-Chancellor of UHAS, Professor Lydia Aziato and Professor Margaret Gyapong, Director, UHAS Institute of Health Research and Chair of the Research Conference Planning Committee.
Dr. Afari-Afari-Asiedu presented on “Improving the identification of antibiotics to reduce inappropriate access and use at the community level in Ghana”. Putting context to the study, he emphasized that antibiotics are becoming less effective for the treatment of infectious diseases caused by bacteria (antibiotic resistance) largely due inappropriate access and use at the community level. According to him, previous studies ABACUS I (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33713630/) revealed that antibiotics were used inappropriately because they were sometimes confused with other medicines in capsules with similar colours. Without the population knowing what antibiotics are, public health education and awareness campaign may not yield the desired outcomes as there is no common understanding about antibiotics between public health educators and end users. In ABACUS II (https://abacus-project.org/), (which was presented at the conference) the team explored context specific and culturally appropriate tools for identification of antibiotics at the community level to improve access and use.
The study found that colors, shapes, and images were the existing facilitators of medicines including, but there is confusion differentiating antibiotic from other drugs. Suggestions emerged to standardize antibiotic packaging with distinct colors, symbols like "A", or images depicting indications to strengthen recognition. QR codes have future potential when smartphone use increases. The team concludes that co-creating standardized packaging solutions with end-users represents a promising approach, but changes should go hand-in-hand with public awareness campaigns on proper antibiotic use to avoid overuse when antibiotics become more identifiable.
The theme for this year’s UHAS research conference was “Forging partnerships in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals: The role of academic and research institutions”. Dr. Afari-Asiedu, explained that ABACUS I&II were international collaborative efforts by research and academic institutions in Africa, Asia, Europe and the UK.
He also expressed his excitement for presenting on AMR on the 24th of November, 2023 which was the last day for the 2023 World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) which started a week ago. During WAAW, stakeholders engage in several public health education activities on inappropriate antibiotic use and antimicrobial resistance and he is happy doing this presentation as his contribution to WAAW. He encouraged all involved to get involved in the fight against AMR.
The conference was attended by other Research Fellows from KHRC who made poster and/or oral presentation in the areas of mental health, environmental health, and HIV.
WHO country representatives, Dr Francis Chisaka Kasolo, Dr. Antony Adofo Ofosu, Deputy Director General of Ghana Health Service were key guest speakers who attended the conference.