The objective of this local mission was to provide an overview of the activities supported by Fleming Fund at the provincial hospital level. Along with the Hospital Director and their laboratory team, the Merieux Foundation presented the activities and support it provided under the Fleming Fund initiative’s Phase I, as well as the work plan towards Phase II.

This mission represents the coordinated and collective actions of the UK government and country grantee in the face of the rising global health threat of AMR.

The Merieux Foundation extends special thanks to the hospital director, Dr. Thoungphouth, and the hospital team for their gracious hospitality during the mission.

About the project

The UK Government has supported the Fleming Fund since 2015. The Fleming Fund aims to address the global threat of drug-resistant infections, also known as antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The Fleming Fund’s program of national, regional and fellowship grants, managed by Mott MacDonald, aims to improve the capacity of Fleming Fund countries to diagnose drug-resistant bacteria, generate data and strengthen surveillance to inform policy and practice at national and international levels. It has launched a “Country Grant” call for proposals to strengthen the antimicrobial resistance surveillance system in Lao PDR in 2019.

In Lao PDR, the Mérieux Foundation has been selected as “Lead Country Grantee” to implement country grant activities in line with the Fleming Fund’s strategies and initiatives during phase I of the country grant extension II (CG2). Based on its experience and in-depth understanding of the Lao PDR context, the Mérieux Foundation subcontracted with LOMWRU and Chulalangkorn University to extend the geographical coverage of the project sites, including the animal health sector. This was a carefully designed single health project with coordination between the human and animal health sectors.

In the next phase of Fleming Fund (Phase II), the Merieux Foundation will continue to support Lao PDR’s AMR surveillance system with a focus on producing, analyzing, and sharing quality data related to AMR in the human health area. This will help the program to develop long-term sustainable investment plan to combat AMR by better understanding the prevalence of AMR and epidemiological trends at the country level.