Continental Engagement · Antimicrobial Resistance
VAZ Shapes Africa’s AMR Roadmap to 2030
The Veterinary Association of Zambia took a seat in the technical working groups that finalised the African Union’s implementation roadmap and accountability mechanisms for antimicrobial resistance, concluded in Mombasa this week.
From 17 to 21 August 2026, the African Union convened the Continental Meeting to Co-Create the Implementation Roadmap and Continental Accountability Mechanisms for the AU Framework for Antimicrobial Resistance Control 2026–2030 in Mombasa, Kenya. The meeting was led by Africa CDC and AU-IBAR as co-chairs of the AU Taskforce for AMR Control.
Delegates worked across five technical working groups — aligned to the Framework’s Strategic Goals — drawn from African Union agencies, Member State AMR focal points, Regional Economic Communities, the regional Quadripartite (WHO, FAO, WOAH and UNEP), development partners and non-state actors. The week moved from logical framework, to performance measurement framework, to the continental implementation roadmap, closing with validation and formal adoption.
VAZ in Working Group 2
VAZ was represented by its President, Dr Eugene Chisela Bwalya, who served in Working Group 2, responsible for Strategic Goal 2 — Delay emergence of resistance and mitigate harm caused by AMR pathogens.
The group’s remit covered the areas closest to daily veterinary practice: antimicrobial stewardship across One Health sectors, sector-specific treatment guidelines, equitable access to quality-assured antimicrobials, diagnostics and vaccines, control of substandard and falsified products, and antimicrobial residues in the environment.
Working Group 2 delivered a full results chain for Strategic Goal 2 — outcomes, outputs and activities; an indicator set carrying baselines and year-on-year targets to 2030; and the roadmap entries that assign every priority action a lead agency, a dated milestone and a review gate.
“Antimicrobial resistance is not a human-health problem with a veterinary footnote. Prudent use, biosecurity, vaccination and residue control are veterinary work — and this roadmap now says so in language that can actually be measured.”
Dr Eugene Chisela Bwalya — President, Veterinary Association of Zambia
Zambia’s record on the continental table
Zambian veterinary work appears directly in the AU Framework. Zambia is one of only three AU Member States — with Ethiopia and Tanzania — recorded as having developed Standard Treatment Guidelines for Animal Diseases using evidence-based surveillance data. Zambia is also among the three countries the Framework names for parliamentary engagement on AMR, alongside Tanzania and Uganda.
That record positions Zambia as a mentor country under the South–South twinning arrangements built into the roadmap, through which Member States that have already delivered a capability support those still building it. Both Zambia’s veterinary and public health sectors were represented in Working Group 2, with the Zambia National Public Health Institute also at the table.
What this means for VAZ members
The roadmap converts continental ambition into national obligations that reach veterinary practice directly. Five areas will matter most:
- Treatment guidelines
- Expansion of evidence-based animal treatment guidelines, building on work Zambia has already done.
- Prescription-only supply
- Tighter regulation of veterinary medicinal products, and phased withdrawal of highest-priority critically important antimicrobials used for growth promotion.
- Use reporting
- National antimicrobial use data reported to the WOAH ANIMUSE platform, measured in milligrams per population correction unit.
- Prevention before treatment
- Biosecurity, good husbandry and vaccination as the first line of defence — including for smallholder livestock keepers and aquaculture producers.
- Residues
- Monitoring of antimicrobial residues in abattoir, farm and aquaculture settings, an area where African data remains scarce.
What happens next
VAZ will continue to engage through the national AMR coordinating structures and will keep members informed as national obligations under the roadmap are confirmed. Members with an interest in antimicrobial stewardship, veterinary medicine regulation or One Health surveillance are encouraged to contact the Secretariat.
AU AMR Framework 2026-2030
The Print ready AU AMR Framework 2026-203 document is available from the Resources section.