Antimicrobial Resistance Research Hub - Livestock

Supply and delivery of antimicrobials in smallholder livestock productions system in Uganda

Ekta Patel — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 06:11:18 +0000

Written by Ekta Patel

Access to quality veterinary drugs is a significant challenge for smallholder livestock keepers in low- and middle-income countries. Moreover, livestock producers who have access to over-the-counter animal drugs, including antimicrobials, often misuse them in food producing animals, which can produce drug residues in food products such as milk, meat and eggs, and pose a health risk to consumers. This among other reasons has led to growing risks of antimicrobial resistance in the public health sectors of these countries.

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world’s most rapidly emerging health threats and data suggest that it will be the number one cause of death by 2050. Antibiotics play a pivotal role in animal agriculture and have been used as prophylactics (used when animals are stressed in the treatment of illness) or as therapeutics (to manage the health and welfare of sick animals). They have also been used to improve growth and productivity by giving animals antibiotics through feed or water.

In Uganda, the private sector has greatly contributed to the delivery of animal health services, which are regulated by the government. However, the lack of budgetary resources has hindered the implementation of regulations and policies that govern the delivery of veterinary drugs.

Scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Makerere University, and Institute of Virology and Immunology have assessed the use of antimicrobials in smallholder livestock systems in Uganda. Their findings, which are published in the Journal of Frontiers in Veterinary Science show that antibiotics and anti-helminthics are readily available over-the-counter to livestock keepers in the country and antibiotics sales contribute a third of the profit for veterinary drug stockists.

The researchers evaluated Uganda’s veterinary drug supply chain, constraints faced by actors, assess knowledge, practices, and awareness of veterinary drug suppliers on drug use and management in Lira and Mukono in the northern and central region of the country, respectively. They documented the constraints faced by the actors of the drug supply chain, which include lack of knowledge on veterinary drug policies of the country, low level of education especially drug retailers, poor handling of drugs at purchase and administration.

Potential drivers of misuse of antibiotics in the country include low level of education of actors who deal with drugs such as drug retailers and veterinary practitioners, poor handling of drugs at purchase, and self-medication by livestock farmers resulting in inadequate treatments regimens to livestock. Low enforcement of policy and regulations and lack of awareness of stakeholders about policies that regulate use of drugs were also listed as contributing to misuse of drugs such as antibiotics.

The authors advocate future interventions to reduce misuse of drugs in small-scale livestock production systems should target capacity building and improvement of the business of veterinary drug input suppliers and strong policy advocacy.

For more information read the full article here

Learn more about antimicrobial resistance through the CGIAR AMR Hub

Photo credit: AVCD health services project, Syat Onle, operations manager at his agrvet shop in Garissa town, Kenya (ILRI/Dhanji).

CGIAR research program:

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Livestock

CGIAR AMR Hub strengthens partnerships and research to reduce agriculture-associated antimicrobial resistance in low- and middle-income countries

Ekta Patel — Sat, 21 Nov 2020 19:53:28 +0000

CGIAR AMR Hub launch event in Febraury 2019 (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu)

Written by Ekta Patel

The CGIAR Antimicrobial Resistance Hub, which is hosted and led by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) is working the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), World Fish and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) to address agricultural-associated antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The research is largely supported by the CGIAR Research Program (CPR) on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) as well as Livestock and Fish CRPs.

AMR has been described as a silent pandemic that affects everyone. But its burden is disproportionately higher in LMICs due to the many challenges people face in these countries such as lack of access to healthcare, clean water, sanitation, and higher disease burden. Several LMICs have developed national action plans to address AMR but their implementation remains a challenge because of lack of resources and the absence of a comprehensive multisectoral approach, which is needed to reduce the burden of AMR in both humans and animals.

‘The CGIAR AMR Hub is a unique platform as it works with various strategic partners who have expertise in many different areas,’ says Arshnee Moodley, team lead of the CGIAR AMR Hub. ‘For example, ILRI’s entry point in tackling AMR is through livestock and associated environmental systems, whereas World Fish’s focus is on aquaculture in LMICs. IWMI’s expertise is well suited to address AMR in irrigated and or wastewater systems.’ Moodley adds that a global collaborative effort is needed to address the multifaceted factors that contribute to the development of AMR.’

John McDermott, A4NH program director, notes that AMR is an urgent and complex issue and its mitigation requires cross-sector cooperation. ‘Integrated agriculture and health actions are critical in addressing the problem and the CGIAR is well placed to contribute,’ he says.

At ILRI, several AMR research activities are underway. These include investigating drivers for antimicrobial use among livestock farmers, assessing transmission of AMR at human-animal interfaces, and carrying out interventions to reduce antimicrobial by using non-antibiotic alternatives such as phage therapy to control bacterial populations in poultry farms in Kenya.

Earlier this year, despite the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ILRI, under the CGIAR AMR Hub, was selected by the Fleming Fund to lead AMR projects across the globe. For example, in Zambia and Bangladesh, Fleming Fund fellows, who have been paired with scientists from ILRI and World Fish, are developing and improving their skills in AMR and antimicrobial use diagnostics and surveillance. While these projects are currently run virtually with online meetings and training sessions, the teams expect to commence robust activities in 2021.

World Fish has been working on addressing AMR in Bangladesh’s aquaculture. In Asia and many other parts of the world, aquaculture is a major food producing industry with high levels of antimicrobials use, posing a risk for AMR selection and dissemination. Led by the University of Exeter, World Fish is supporting campaigns to raise awareness of AMR in rural aquaculture practices in Bangladesh through digital communications.

Elsewhere, the ReWater MENA project, which is led by IWMI, is expanding the safe reuse of water in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with specific activities in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. In Jordan, supported by the Royal Scientific Society, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation is collecting baseline data and analysing the long-term risks of reusing treated wastewater in the north Jordan Valley with a specific emphasis on antibiotic resistance genes and antibiotic residues in agricultural chains.

Javier Mateo-Sagasta, senior scientist at IWMI and project leader of the ReWater MENA project anticipates ‘the data from this study will provide a platform to understand risks associated with reusing treated wastewater in other countries and potentially provide information on transmission of resistant genes in other LMICs with similar irrigated systems.’ He says IWMI is also working to understand better the sources, transport and fate of antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes in aquatic environments. ‘We want to identify research priorities for modelling and system analysis, with the longer-term goal of developing a modelling framework to assess risks (to human, aquaculture, livestock, agriculture and ecosystem health) and test “what if” scenarios to support decision-making.’

At IFPRI, Devesh Roy, a senior researcher at A4NH, is conducting a macro-level analysis in India to understand the availability of veterinary-specific antibiotics using trade and industrial data, in partnership with Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Simultaneously, a sister project led by ILRI is assessing antibiotic use at the farm level in the country.

The World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), which is commemorated annually between 18-24 November 2020, aims to increase awareness of AMR and encourage best practices among all sectors including the general public to reduce irrational antimicrobial use and halt the further emergence of antimicrobial-resistant infections.

Learn more about the CGIAR AMR Hub projects

CGIAR research program:

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Fish

Livestock

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance among poultry farmers in urban and peri-urban areas of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Tezira Lore — Wed, 08 Feb 2023 08:22:16 +0000

Increased use of antibiotics in livestock is a public health concern, as it poses risks of antibiotic residues and antibiotic-resistant pathogens entering the food chains and infecting humans.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 216 poultry farms to study knowledge, attitudes and practices of poultry farmers on the use of antibiotics in urban and peri-urban areas of Ouagadougou. The study is published in the January 2023 issue of the journal Antibiotics.

Results show that only 17% of the 216 farmers attended training on poultry production. Majority of farmers (86%) were not knowledgeable about the rational use of antibiotics. When there was a disease outbreak, 32% of farmers used veterinary drugs without a prescription and 23% consulted a community animal health worker.

About 80% of farmers reported using chicken meat as per normal if the bird died during or right after treatment with an antibiotic. Knowledge of rational use of antibiotics was positively influenced by a good attitude adopted by the farmer during the illness of birds and negatively influenced by disease treatment success and high level of education of the farmer.

Lack of knowledge about the rational use of antibiotics including their use without a prescription are serious risk factors for the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Awareness of farmers and other veterinary drug supply chain actors such as drug stockists and animal health workers on best practices in antimicrobial use and promotion of good biosecurity on farms are important to reduce the misuse of antibiotics.

Citation
Sawadogo, A., Kagambèga, A., Moodley, A., Ouedraogo, A.A., Barro, N. and Dione, M. 2023. Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance among poultry farmers in urban and peri-urban areas of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Antibiotics 12(1): 133.

CGIAR research program:

Livestock

New study explores cognitive interviewing as a tool to pretest survey questions in limited resource settings

Tezira Lore — Fri, 08 Jul 2022 06:40:34 +0000

Antimicrobial resistance is a complex topic requiring interdisciplinary solutions embedded in One Health thinking. Currently, many surveys are underway in low- and middle-income countries to study how antimicrobial use in the livestock sector is driving resistance. In a survey, the respondents must understand and answer the questions correctly to produce accurate and valuable results.

Pretesting survey questions is therefore important but sometimes not performed due to limited time and resources. Cognitive interviewing is a pretesting method to give insights into the respondent's way of interpreting and mentally processing the survey questions to identify problems and finding ways to improve the questions.

It has previously been suggested that cognitive interviews may be difficult to use in some cultural settings.

A new study, published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science (Jul 2022), aimed to use cognitive interviews in a respondent-adjusted way to study how survey questions related to antimicrobial use are understood and answered by 12 small-scale farmers in Kenya and Uganda.

The results show that even a small number of interviews and using interviewers with limited knowledge of cognitive interviewing can identify many problems in survey questions and the survey tool. Cognitive interviews may provide a feasible and affordable way of pretesting questionnaires in situations where time and resources are limited, for example, during a disease outbreak.

Citation

Wenemark, M., Ngwili, N., Ndoboli, D., Wieland, B. and Roesel, K. 2022. “How are my age and cows related?” Cognitive interviewing as a tool to pretest survey questions in two limited resource settings. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9: 833748.

CGIAR research program:

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Livestock

CGIAR AMR Hub hosts Antimicrobial Resistance seminar

Ekta Patel — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Written by Elliot Carleton

On November 18, the first day of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, the CGIAR Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Hub hosted a virtual seminar addressing antimicrobial awareness. Launched in 2019 and led by ILRI, the AMR Hub is a global research and development partnership for reducing agricultural-related AMR in low- and middle-income countries.

Moderated by Ekta Patel, a scientist and communications manager at ILRI, the seminar began with opening remarks from ILRI director general Jimmy Smith. ‘Climate change and COVID-19 have seemingly knocked AMR off the global agenda’, said Smith. However, AMR is not a problem the world can afford to overlook. Without urgent action, AMR could cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050 along with a 3.8 per cent reduction in global GDP.

Faced with these challenges, the AMR Hub has been working with ILRI and other CGIAR partners, including the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), WorldFish and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), on research projects to address AMR's connection to livestock, fish and water, which are among the most significant contributors to global AMR. The Hub can be expanded to include other CGIAR centres in the future.

Despite this recent progress, 'there is still a lot of work to be done', said Smith. Scientists do not yet have accurate data on aggregate antibiotic use. Although we know the impact of AMR is significant, this complicates attempts to pinpoint AMR's overall impact on the developing world. As a result, many developing countries have not recognized the urgency of the crisis, leaving them vulnerable to AMR's potentially devastating effects on both human and animal health, not to mention the economy.

For this reason, further research is needed to build evidence of AMR’s impact on developing countries and support innovations that can help farmers provide animal care without relying on antibiotics. It is also necessary to ‘build capacity in developing countries, design and enforce standards on antibiotic use, and expand advocacy for AMR solutions’, said Smith. The AMR Hub will be at the centre of this work going forward.

Smith was followed by Elwyn Grainger-Jones, managing director for the new CGIAR institutional strategy and systems division. Grainger-Jones noted that just like with climate change 15 years ago, efforts to address AMR are hindered by the need for more data and a lack of urgency to address the crisis in many countries. However, the CGIAR can learn from its experience with climate change by recognizing the ‘need to invest early and build recognition that agriculture is both part of the problem and part of the solution to AMR’, said Grainger-Jones.

Anders Dalsgaard, a veterinarian and microbiologist who helped establish the International Centre for Antimicrobial Resistance Solutions (ICARS), spoke next on the ‘opportunities for collaboration between the CGIAR AMR Hub and ICARS’. One avenue for collaboration is on antimicrobial susceptibility testing, which ‘will allow African stakeholders and researchers access to training, identification and testing of bacterial isolates’, said Dalsgaard, which are necessary to document AMR’s impact. Dalsgaard also urged people to shift their perspective on AMR mitigation, saying that ‘prevention and control of AMR should not just be seen as costs because investments will save both lives and money’.

Arshnee Moodley, an ILRI scientist and CGIAR AMR Hub leader, was next to speak. She highlighted the importance of the Hub's global partnerships with both CGIAR centres and national governments. ‘AMR is a One Health issue, and the partnerships at the centre of the hub can allow us to take the One Health approach required to address AMR’, said Moodley.

Moodley also expressed the need to address livestock's contributions to AMR. Two-thirds of all antibiotic use is in livestock as antibiotics are widely available and affordable for farmers. Addressing this problem can be difficult given the differences in livestock systems around the world, so the hub is working to develop solutions that are cost-effective and sustainable as well as 'locally relevant and context specific', said Moodley.

Other key comments were raised by Jerome Delamare-Deboutteville of WorldFish and Javier Mateo-Sagasta of IWMI. Delamare-Deboutteville highlighted the role aquatic food systems have in contributing to global AMR, saying that ‘67 different antibiotics are used in 11 major aquaculture producing countries’. To address these concerns, WorldFish is currently leading a variety of projects to ‘build our understanding of AMR in aquatic food systems’.

Water environments more generally also contribute to global AMR. Resistant bacteria can make their way into water through waste runoff. When this happens, ‘water bodies become a conveyor of antibiotic resistance, and then populations downstream are exposed’, said Mateo-Sagasta. For this reason, IWMI is working ‘to develop models that can predict the concentration of resistant bacteria in water bodies to understand the health risks and test the effectiveness of solutions’.

Although the seminar covered a wide variety of topics relating to AMR, in her concluding remarks, Arshnee Moodely affirmed what was perhaps the seminar’s central theme: that ‘the AMR Hub epitomizes what we want the One CGIAR to do’—bring a variety of partners together and combine expertise to tackle the world’s greatest challenges. As the CGIAR moves into its next phase, the AMR Hub will continue building the partnerships necessary to address global AMR. As Dieter Schillinger, deputy director general of biosciences at ILRI, said at the end of the seminar, 'AMR must be attacked from all angles—nobody can be left out'.

For more information, visit the CGIAR AMR Hub or learn about the Hub’s research activities.

Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Bacteria (photo credit: NIAID)

CGIAR research program:

Livestock

Antimicrobial Resistance in Africa: challenge to address while safeguarding farmers

Ekta Patel — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 11:03:30 +0000

Written by Ekta Patel

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global challenge, where drugs relied on to treat infections in humans, animals and plants will no longer be effective. Globally, drug resistant diseases already account for over 700,000 human deaths every year and the status of AMR in Africa is limited due to the lack of surveillance. Qualitative interviews with farmers in Africa demonstrate a lack of knowledge on both AMR and the importance of prudent antimicrobial use.

The World Health Organization has declared AMR as one of the top 10 global public health threats facing humanity and states that misuse and overuse of AMR are the main drivers in the development of drug-resistant pathogens. Last week, the OIE - Global Leaders Group on AMR called all countries to significantly reduce the levels of antimicrobial drugs used in global food systems, including the use of medically important drugs to promote growth in healthy animals.

A perspective by Christian Ducrot et al. (2021) published in the Journal of Emerging Infectious Disease evaluates the challenges faced by farmers in Africa. The perspective acknowledges that Africa reports lowest usage of antimicrobials in the world, however, the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in foodborne pathogens isolated from animals and animal products remains high.

Ducrot, the lead author of the paper and deputy head of the animal health division at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment says that ‘a major challenge is in implementing policies that would enable reduction of antimicrobial use on animals.’ He added that effective application of policies is dependent on minimizing adverse health and socio-economic impacts on the livelihoods of farmers in low and middle-income countries.

The authors, who are from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and French research organisations namely, The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), and Institute of Research and Development (IRD), advocate for policies that consider specific farmer needs, including improved access to veterinary drugs, and improved regulation of their use.

For more information:

CGIAR research program:

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Livestock

OIE release their fifth annual report on Antimicrobial Agents intended for use in animals

Ekta Patel — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 07:28:04 +0000

The Fifth Annual Report on Antimicrobial Agents intended for use in Animals is now published and includes data from 160 countries.

The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has published its 5th report on Antimicrobial Agents intended for use in animals where 160 countries (156 members, one non-contiguous territory and three non-OIE members) have contributed data. OIE has been engaged in combating antimicrobial resistance through a One Health approach. Globally very little information is available on resistance patterns in animal pathogens or in animal commensal bacterial. OIE recognises that surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in animal microorganisms is an important to assess the level and evolution of AMR in animals and later to provide a better understanding of the AM use and AMR epidemiology.

With a focus on 2017, this report provides an examination of quantitative data in the context of relevant animal populations which includes an analysis of antimicrobial quantities adjusted for animal biomass on a global and regional level by year.

Read the full report here

CGIAR research program:

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Livestock

Q&A with IWMI's researcher on AMR water modelling

Ekta Patel — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 09:28:35 +0000

Rain catchment pond, near Tigotegui Village,
in an area near Fakara, Niger (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann).

Mahesh Jampani, researcher at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) is a water quality and modelling expert with over 12 years of experience in national and international research projects including water quality management, geochemistry, contaminant transport modelling, and socio-environmental impact assessment on water resources. Supported by the CGIAR AMR Hub, at IWMI he is responsible for investigating the sources, loads, transport and fate of antimicrobial compounds, antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) and antibacterial resistance genes (ARGs) in water systems. Ekta Patel, scientist and communications manager at ILRI interviewed him about his research activities.

Ekta: Mahesh your research activity is titled modelling AMR in water environments, can you share a little bit about your project at IWMI?
Mahesh: Based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, my research activities at IWMI are to understand and address the fate and transport of antimicrobial resistant bacteria (ARB) and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) in aquatic environments. We initially reviewed and analyzed different sources of resistant bacteria and resistance genes and the factors and processes that could influence their evolution spread, fate and transport in water environments. This particular focus is to understand the antimicrobial resistance modelling knowledge that has been developed so far for water environments. The current knowledge on antimicrobial resistance modelling in aquatic environments is in the very early stages. Our research priorities are to provide background thinking for new model development and further develop a new model module that can be used to assess the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in aquatic environments.

What water sources and environments will you be investigating?
Mahesh: Various sectors around the world intensely use antimicrobials, including use by humans, in livestock production, aquaculture farming and crop agriculture – these can be termed as primary loadings of antimicrobials, resistant bacteria and resistant genes to the aquatic environments. The key sources and pathways are hospitals and their wastewaters, pharma industries and their effluents, domestic households and urban wastewater, wastes from livestock farms and croplands, the aquaculture industry, etc. The water sources we are looking for depending on the study area or study watershed, where one or more of these sources and pathways contribute to AMR pollution in one or more local water bodies: rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, aquifers, coastal environments, etc.

Are there specific plans to review the presence and distribution of resistant genes in aquatic environments irrespective of the bacteria that carry it?

Mahesh: When we think of the type of antimicrobials used and the corresponding genes conferring resistance, selection and amplification in the environment primarily depends on the local or regional antimicrobial use and other environmental factors such as climate, improper waste treatment and disposal, etc. Many ARGs are readily available in the environment for bacteria to pick up, but only a few of them can cause disease and are able to carry multiple resistance genes to creating multi-drug resistant strains. It can be a laborious process to model all ARB, associate ARGs and the mobile elements, since including resistance gene transport in modelling is in the very early stages. Our idea is to employ sophisticated statistical models to scan and identify the dominant/critical antimicrobials, ARB and ARGs before in-depth investigations of a study region or watershed.

What do you hope to achieve from your investigations?
Mahesh: We hope to understand the fate and transport processes that govern the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance in aquatic environments. More research is needed to investigate the ARB and ARGs occurrence and transformations in receiving waters. We are particularly interested in how different environmental conditions, ecological dynamics, hydrologic and climatic variability can shape the ARB and ARGs survival, fate and transport in the aquatic environments.

CGIAR research program:

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Livestock

AMR Newsletter 5

Ekta Patel — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 12:43:38 +0000

July - December 2020

The following newsletter provides access and overview of the communication content of the CGIAR AMR hub led by ILRI that has been developed with our scientific partners for this quarter

The following blog posts have been developed:

Watch a video:

Watch Online event discussing AMR:Moving from National Action Plans to National Action, featuring Arshnee Moodley (CGIAR AMR Hub), Ambassador Lone Wisborg(Danish Ambassador to the United States, Embassy of Denmark), Mirfin Mpundu (Director, ReAct Africa).

Something to share with your partners:

Share the brochure on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Facility at the CGIAR AMR Hub

Review research highlights under the five pillars:

For more information contact me or amrhub@cgiar.org

CGIAR research program:

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Livestock

Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock: Antimicrobials in livestock from scrutiny to action in low –income countries.

Ekta Patel — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 19:29:48 +0000

Sow and piglets on a farm in Masaka district, Uganda
(photo credit:ILRI/Apollo Habtamu)

Written by Ekta Patel

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW) which is commemorated annually between 18-24 November aims to increase awareness of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and sounds the alarm for the public and private sectors to take the necessary steps and investments to mitigate risks associated with AMR.

A virtual event organized a day before WAAW 2020 by the Livestock Antimicrobial Partnership (LAMP)-network hosted by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), was attended by nearly 250 participants, and included distinguished speakers from the World Bank, International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), SLU and Vétérinaires Sans Frontières International.

Antimicrobials are used to treat infections and are an asset to human and animal health and calls for prudent use to maintain its efficacy. Globally, only 50% of antibiotics are being used correctly and if left unchecked, the World Bank projects that the AMR crisis could negatively impact global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with reduction as large as the one provoked by the 2008 global financial crisis. However, those in low and middle-income countries would be most affected and driving more people into poverty.

Franck Berthe, senior livestock specialist in the agriculture and food global practice of the World Bank took an economic route to addressing AMR and says, ‘I believe that AMR needs to be reframed as a global development problem. A diverse set of actions across multiple sectors—such as increasing access to clean water and sanitation, building resilient food systems and educating younger generations on AMR—will be critical to curbing the rise of AMR.’

He adds, countries can use available financing more astutely by being more conscious of how their investments in various sectors can curb AMR. Not only do “AMR-sensitive” investments have the potential to reap high returns, but in the context of scarce resources for development activities, they are particularly effective.

Arshnee Moodley, team leader for the CGIAR AMR Hub pointed out that, ‘knowledge, attitude and practice surveys amongst prescribers in low- and middle-income countries such as agrovets, suggest that knowledge around AMR is adequate, but despite this, inappropriate prescribing is still high’. Country regulations state that individuals working at agrovets must have some form of a formal animal health training, but this is not the case. She added, ‘while improving animal health knowledge amongst farmers should be improved, access to affordable veterinary services also needs to be improved with a focus on rational use of antimicrobials.’

Ulf Magnusson, professor of animal reproduction at the department of clinical sciences at SLU and moderator of this event said, ‘The conditions to fight AMR in LMICs are in many ways different from high income countries. This is often overlooked. Therefore, this seminar aimed to identify drivers and incentives complementary to regulatory means for refining antimicrobial use in LMICs. One such incentive is of course economic gains, but a challenge is to convince the individual farmer about this. Therefore, a focus in 2021 is on developing insights on how to change behavior based on economic rationale.’

Watch the full seminar video here: https://youtu.be/pyY6B-VSQx0

CGIAR research program:

Agriculture for Nutrition and Health

Livestock