A plan to develop a strategy and action plan for data governance that optimizes the surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in the Argentine Republic was launched by the National Directorate of Epidemiology and Health Situation Analysis of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Argentina. The project was one of the winners of the call for proposals for the implementation of IS4H projects promoted by the Pan American Health Organization.
The formal, intersectoral and consensual development of a data governance strategy is a model never implemented in the country at the health level.
Since 2015, Argentina has a national multisector strategy for the control of Antimicrobial Resistance, based on the 5 WHO objectives (joint Res 834/2015 and 391/2015). Despite the efforts made by the country in relation to the control of antimicrobial resistance, there is difficulty in accessing and using the information produced, with varied and disconnected information sources in the different institutions within the Ministry of Health and in the other ministries such as Environment, Agriculture and Livestock.
PAHO, in its constitution and in the Pan American Sanitary Code, refers to the importance of access to reliable data and quality information, urging countries to work on improving the formal collection of health data. This project will improve the circuit and the integration of existing information, defining indicators and information flows of the data generated by the different national agencies that work on the subject; whether of human, animal and environmental health, favoring a comprehensive analysis for an opportune diagnosis of the situation of the Antimicrobial Resistance in the country, in order to be able to take adequate decisions on the public policies that affect the control of AMR.
The formal, intersectoral and consensual development of a data governance strategy is a model never implemented in the country at the health level, it would be the first experience at this level. Likewise, the joint, systematic and shared management of data of the same health topic through a work plan would represent an original and innovative vision to the problem of the disaggregation of the data and the delay in its analysis. The training of health workers in data and open data governance strategies will represent a qualitative leap in the current paradigm of the health system with a linear vision of access to data and reports.
At the end of the project, the authors expect a definition of the management modality and information flows of the data currently generated by the AMR surveillance systems of the human, animal and environmental health sectors. In addition, they want to have finalized an information proposal for the decision making of the sectors involved in the RAM in Argentina, and an implementation plan to be presented to the national authorities.