Table 1.

Ongoing activities by the Department of Health and others in South Africa to improve antibiotic prescribing, particularly in ambulatory care.

Activity	Reference
Regular monitoring of the implementation of the National Action Plan/Antimicrobial Resistance National Strategy Framework 2017–2014 alongside active surveillance of AMR	[12,13,14,15,16]
Updating of Standard Treatment Guidelines/Essential Medicine List (STG/EML—2020), including recommendations for the management of COVID-19 and the management of urinary tract infections in primary care	[17,18,19]
Developing and broadcasting a national manual to improve infection prevention and control across sectors	[20]
Assessment and monitoring of prescribing of antibiotics in ambulatory care vs. recommendations in the STG/EML	[21,22]
Encouraging citizens to become antibiotic guardians	[23]
Assessing antimicrobial stewardship activities among public healthcare facilities in South Africa and encouraging the implementation of ASPs	[24,25,26]
Refining curricula among student healthcare professionals to improve knowledge regarding antibiotics, AMR and ASPs, as well as continuous professional development activities post qualification to address knowledge and training gaps	[27,28,29,30]
One Health approach to limit the prescribing of colistin	[31]

NB: AMR: Antimicrobial Resistance; ASP: Antimicrobial Stewardship Program.