ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE (AMR)

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  Dr. Bernard Vallat at WHO

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Managing antimicrobials use in animals

Antimicrobial agents are medicines used to treat infections caused by bacteria in particular.  They are essential drugs for animal and public health, but in recent years some bacteria have demonstrated full or partial resistance to different antibiotics. This phenomenon called antimicrobial resistance is a rising concern in both public and animal health.

Many activities in favour of animal health depend on the availability and appropriate use of good quality veterinary medicinal products, including antimicrobial agents. The OIE considers that ensuring appropriate access to effective antimicrobial agents to treat animal diseases is vital, but stresses the necessity to control it through the intervention of veterinarians.

In 2003 the OIE convened an ad hoc Group on Antimicrobial Resistance which updated 4 relevant chapters of the Terrestrial Animal Health Code and proposed a list of Critically Important Antimicrobials for Veterinary Use. The World Assembly of OIE national Delegates adopted these standards as well as the list of antibiotics in 2007.

OIE is already engaged in preventing antimicrobial resistance worldwide through different actions:

• Promotion of responsible and prudent use of antimicrobial agents in veterinary medicine; and therefore avoid hazardous practices;
• Reinforcement of  good governance of Veterinary Services;
• Better knowledge and monitoring of the quantities of antimicrobials used in animal husbandry;
• Harmonization of national antimicrobial resistance surveillance and monitoring programmes, and implementation of international coordination programmes;
• Implementation of risk assessment measures.

Collaboration with the public health sector

The Codex Alimentarius, FAO and WHO are key partners of the OIE in the field of recommendations for veterinarians and livestock producers, and in particular on risk analysis of residues of veterinary drugs in food products of animal origin and methods for the analysis of these products.

The OIE recommends permanent risk assessment is carried out in parallel with the use of antibiotics which ensure the health and welfare of animals, in the context of a growing demand for noble proteins worldwide.
More information: What does OIE do on AMR?