Professor Mecky Isaac Matee,

Professor of Microbiology and Immunology

Muhimbili University for Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS)

SACIDS Research Group Leader: One Health Antimicrobial Resistance

I am Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Muhimbili University for Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), where I have been involved in training/supervision of undergraduates, postgraduate (MSc, MMed and PhD) as well as postdoctoral fellows. I have also provided consultancy services to various national and international organizations in the field of infectious diseases. I have served as the chairman of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences for six years, between September 2006 and September 2012. At the international level I have served on the scientific panel of the Developing Countries Coordination Committee (DCCC) of European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) and Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

MUHAS is a co-founder institution and co-Leader of the SACIDS Foundation for One Health (SACIDS). I have been the primary focal point and link for the SACIDS programmes at MUHAS. I have led the SACIDS One Health antimicrobial resistance research group since 20o8 through various funding sources. Since 2017 till now, I have been the Deputy Leader of the World Bank designated SACIDS African Centre of Excellency for infectious diseases of humans and Animals in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Under my leadership the SACIDS AMR Research and Service provision programme has achieved the following milestones i) Since 2019 I have collaborated with the Africa CDC to implement its framework on antimicrobial resistance among African Union member states, through advocating for policies and regulations to enable long-term prevention and control of AMR and civil society engagement.  This included; carrying out a systematic review of antimicrobial resistance, antimicrobial use and existing policies in agriculture/ food production systems in Africa, undertaking a review of AMU and AMR in food-producing animals and the environment in Africa, organizing workshops on Legal Framework for Infection Prevention and Control in Healthcare Facilities and in engaging civil society organizations in promoting public awareness on AMR –curbing inappropriate use of antimicrobials. Between 2019 and 2021 I collaborated with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in conducting policy analysis studies of AMR in Tanzania; framing the drivers of AMR and analysing policy actors and human and animal health practitioners’ perception of AMU and AMR in Tanzania.

In 2020, under partnership with Ending Pandemics and through Fleming Fund, I oversaw mapping and gap analysis of Antimicrobial Resistance and Surveillance Systems in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia,  for the purpose  of developing common AMR surveillance protocols with  a clear AMR data sharing protocol for quick comparability of the data across the region.  Between March 2019 – September 2020 I was involved in the implementation of the Fleming Country Grant that aimed to strengthen One Health AMR and AMU surveillance in humans and  in food producing animals through building lab capacities in National and Zonal Medical and Veterinary facilities in Tanzania. Around the same time I lead the implementation of the Fleming Regional Grant that was involved in developing common protocols for a One Health approach to surveillance and in testing a protocol for community acquired UTI in Tanzania. Currently I am working with the Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute (KCRI) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in overseeing OH AMR genomic studies of PhD and postdoc students and in grant applications.