Menzies School of Health Research (Menzies) has been awarded a Fleming Fund Country Grant to support testing and surveillance for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Timor-Leste.

The Fleming Fund is a UK aid program managed by the UK’s Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC), which was established to support low and middle-income countries to generate, share and use AMR data so they can optimise the use of antibiotics and reduce drug resistance.

Menzies will work with the government of Timor-Leste to develop systems for monitoring rates of infections and the use of antibiotics; this will help identify areas where antimicrobial use could be optimised across both the human health and animal health sectors. The One Health approach is critical to contribute to global efforts to fight AMR.

Aims:

• Strengthen One Health approaches to information sharing
• Strengthen AMR and AMU surveillance system in the human health sector
• Strengthen AMR and AMU surveillance system in the animal health sector

Chief investigators:

• Associate Professor Josh Francis
• Dr Jennifer Yan

Co -investigators:

• Shawn Ting
• Sajal Saha

Project Coordinator: 

• Karen Champlin 

Project dates:

• Fleming Fund Country Grant 1: 1 May 2019 – 31 January 2022
• Fleming Fund Country Grant 2: 31 March 2021– 31 December 2023

Funders:

• The Fleming Fund is a UK aid program managed by the UK’s Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC)
• Mott MacDonald is the Management Agent for the Fleming Fund Grants Program

Collaborators:

• Timor-Leste Ministry of Health
• Timor-Leste Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
• National Health Laboratory
• Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Hospital
• Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares
• 5 Referral Hospital: Baucau, Suai, Maubisse, Maliana and Oecusse
• Procurelink International  
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Berrimah Veterinary Laboratory

1. Francis, J. R., Sarmento, N., Draper, A., Marr, I., Ting, S., Fancourt, N., Alves, L., Champlin, K., Bongers, A., & Yan, J. (2020). Antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic use in Timor-Leste: building surveillance capacity with a One Health approach. Communicable diseases intelligence, 44. https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2020.44.1
2. Harris, L., Bongers, A., Yan, J., Francis, J,R., Marr, I., Lake, S.,& Martins, S.(2021). Estimates of Antibacterial Consumption in Timor-Leste Using Distribution Data and Variation in Municipality Usage Patterns. 2021, 10, 1468. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics10121468.
3. Ting, S., Pereira, A., Alves, A. d. J., Fernandes, S., Soares, C. d. C., Soares, F. J., . . . Jong, J. B. d. C. (2021). Antimicrobial Use in Animals in Timor-Leste Based on Veterinary Antimicrobial Imports between 2016 and 2019. Antibiotics, 10(4), 426. doi:10.3390/antibiotics10040426.
4. Ting, S., Pereira, A., Davis, S., Vong da Silva, P. G., Alves, A., Dos Santos, C., . . . Barnes, T. S. (2022). Knowledge and Practices on Antibiotic Use and Antibiotic Resistance Among Smallholder Pig Farmers in Timor-Leste. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8(1585). doi:10.3389/fvets.2021.819643.
5. Oakley, T., Marr, I.,Townell, N., Heney, C., Jackson, W., Evans, M., Hall, B., Allen, C., Haw, K., & Ferguson, J.(2021). Pacific Regional Infectious Disease Association (PRIDA): capacity-building for microbiology and infectious disease across the Pacific. MICROBIOLOGY AUSTRALIA, 2021, 42, 182–186 https://doi.org/10.1071/MA21051.
6. Oakley, T.; Le, B.; da Conceicao, V.; Marr, I.; Maia, C.;Soares, M.; Belo, J.C.; Sarmento, N.;da Silva, E.; Amaral, S.; et al.Gastrointestinal Carriage of Antimicrobial Resistance in School-Aged Children in Three Municipalities of Timor-Leste. Antibiotics 2022, 11, 1262. https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics11091262
7. Nevio SarmentoA, Tessa OakleyA, Endang Soares da SilvaB, Ari TilmanB, Merita MonteiroA,B, Lucsendar AlvesA, Ismael BarretoA, Ian MarrA, Anthony D. K. DraperA,C,D, Gloria de Castro HallE, Jennifer YanA,F and Joshua R. FrancisA,F,* https://www.publish.csiro.au/MA/MA22039
8. Nevio Sarmento, Tessa Oakley, Joana C Belo, Virginia L da Conceição, Carolina da C Maia, Celia G Santos, Elfiana Amaral, Lucia Toto, Endang S da Silva, Ian Marr, Jennifer Yan, Joshua R Francis https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2022.46.65

9. Ting, S., Pereira, A., Alves, A., Vong da Silva, P. G., Dos Santos, C., Davis, S., . . . Barnes, T. S. (2022). Knowledge, attitudes and practices of government animal health workers on antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance in Timor-Leste. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.1063530

10. Helio Guterres, Celia Gusmao, Mateus Pinheiro, Joana Martins, Gustavo Odio, Carolina Maia, Virginia da Conceicao, Messias Soares, Celita Osorio, Endang Soares da Silva, Arijayanti Tilman, Rodney Givney, Tessa Oakley, Jennifer Yan, Lucia Toto, Elfiana Amaral, Rodney James,Kirsty Buising, Mark Mayo, Mirjam Kaestli, Jessica R. Webb, Robert W. Baird, Bart Currie, Joshua R. Francis, and Stephen Muhi4,(2023) Melioidosis in Timor-Leste: First Case Description and Phylogenetic Analysis, Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press) https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofad405

• STRONG-TL - disease control in Timor-Leste
• MATCH TL - strengthen diagnosis and surveillance of infectious diseases in Timor-Leste
• Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and select vaccine-preventable diseases in Timor-Leste (ARIA-RISE)