Title : Playing against resistance: Using board game-based learning to improve antimicrobial resistance awareness among secondary school youth in kampala, Uganda

Background: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is projected to cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050. In Uganda and across sub-Saharan Africa, young people are among the most frequent consumers of antibiotics yet the least likely to receive structured AMR education. Conventional awareness approaches, lectures, pamphlets, and assembly-style campaigns, have documented limitations in generating sustained engagement or behaviour change among adolescent populations. A more effective, scalable, and youth-appropriate modality is urgently needed.

Intervention: Super Bugs Clash Kampala Edition is a collaborative board game developed by AFHEG Foundation to address AMR awareness through structured peer-facilitated gameplay. Built on evidence-informed gamification principles, the game integrates narrative scenarios, collaborative decision-making mechanics, and embedded content on responsible antibiotic use, infection prevention, resistance mechanisms, and community stewardship responsibility. Sessions run 60 to 90 minutes for groups of four to six players and are adaptable across classroom, community, and health facility settings.

Methods: This presentation describes an implementation study across 200-plus recorded gameplay sessions conducted in Kampala and peri-urban Uganda through early 2026. Data sources include structured session logs, facilitator qualitative observation notes, and reported participant engagement indicators across secondary school, university, and community forum settings. A descriptive implementation science framework characterises delivery fidelity, reach, setting diversity, and qualitative AMR dialogue outcomes. A formal quantitative pre/post outcome study using validated AMR knowledge instruments is currently in design and scheduled for 2026 implementation.

Results: Across 200-plus sessions, Super Bugs Clash engaged youth and community members in structured AMR dialogue across diverse settings. Facilitators consistently documented increased discussion on antibiotic use, resistance mechanisms, and stewardship practices following gameplay. The collaborative format generated organic peer-to-peer health conversations that lecture-based approaches had not produced in comparable settings. Deployment feasibility across resource-variable environments was confirmed, with uniformly high engagement and session completion rates.

Conclusions: Super Bugs Clash demonstrates that board game-based learning is a feasible, engaging, and qualitatively promising modality for AMR education among youth in low-resource African settings. The implementation evidence supports strong potential for community-level AMR awareness generation that passive education formats do not reliably achieve. The forthcoming quantitative study will add pre/post knowledge data to this implementation foundation. This presentation advocates for the inclusion of gamified, peer-facilitated modalities in national and regional AMR stewardship frameworks, particularly for the 10-to-25 age group across African education systems.

Phillip Andrew Mwebaza is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of AFHEG Foundation (African Health Grid Foundation). A CDC-certified health literacy specialist, he holds advanced training in global health policy and development from the University of Washington. He is a Tony Elumelu Foundation alumnus. Under his leadership, AFHEG Foundation has reached over 60,000 people across Uganda through the Health Literacy Grid ecosystem and was selected for the HundrED Global Collection 2026. He also serves as CEO of Impact Craft Media Ltd, a professional media and communications agency based in Kampala, Uganda.