July - Dec 2020
Wishing all our partners and stakeholders and happy new year. As we embark on 2021, we hope to continue to stay safe and commence many field activities.
While the most part of 2020 was virtual, the CGIAR AMR Hub made several virtual visits and established new partners. We look forward to strengthening these collaborations and partnerships in the new year. Stay Safe!
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. 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.
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. Projects undertaken in Africa and Asia aim to reduce the burden of agriculture associated AMR.
The British Poultry Council (BPC) Antibiotic Stewardship play a critical role in delivering good bird health and welfare, safeguarding the efficacy of antibiotics and help to produce food that is trusted by consumers. The recently published 2020 BPC report has shown reduced use of antibiotics in the last few years.
January - June 2020 Issue 4
We hope that this finds all of you keeping well under these unprecedented times of COVID-19. We commenced the year well but right as we were getting into the last month of the first quarter, we were railroaded with COVID-19 so this issue highlights six months of activities. The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the importance of addressing AMR as it is a faceless silent pandemic. With this in mind, CGIAR AMR Hub plans to oversee activities using a One Health approach and we look forward to working with you in this endeavor. Stay Safe!
The ReWaterMENA project, a multi-partner, four-year initiative that started in 2018 aims to expand the safe reuse of water in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The project is funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and led by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). The project is regional in scope and has specific activities in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. In Jordan, activities are conducted in partnership with the Royal Scientific Society.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) also known as the silent pandemic, is a serious global health threat and low- and middle-income countries are likely to be the most affected in terms of economic burden and public health. Deaths from drug resistant infections are projected to increase from 700,000 to 10 million annually. Antibiotics have found their way into wastewater and recently more studies have highlighted the role of wastewater as a significant environmental reservoir of AMR. This environment is conducive for the global spread of multi-resistant bacteria and other microorganisms and for antimicrobial resistant genes to persist. Wastewater treatment processes can assist in removing or reducing the antimicrobial resistant bacterial load. However, the impact on the resistant genes is limited as they are not degradable and therefore are able to spread amongst other microbial communities in the environment through gene transfer, a process by which bacteria transfer resistant genes. In addition, another growing area of concern is the uptake of these antibiotics by crops irrigated by treated wastewater.
Antibiotics play a pivotal role in a pandemic both as prophylaxis, as well as pre-emptive treatment of secondary bacterial infections, which can be difficult to distinguish between viral pneumonia and bacterial pneumonia. While the number of COVID-19 infections in Africa does not rival those seen in Europe or America, they are gradually increasing and so is the fear of the impact this infection may have on the continent’s low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). According to the World Bank, nearly 645 million people live in the rural areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Three quarters of this population lack the facilities at home to wash their hands with soap and water, which is one of the key measures of preventing infection and spread of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, many people in LMICs are already battling malnutrition and other endemic infectious diseases, which raises the question of how they will cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the key strategic objectives of the World Health Organisation’s global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) action plan is to improve public awareness and understanding of this issue. Very few AMR awareness campaigns have targeted the animal production sector, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where rural communities can be geographically difficult to access via traditional face-to-face community engagement methods. Aquaculture is a major food production industry in Bangladesh and across Asia, an area which poses a significant risk to global AMR dissemination. A pilot study sought to investigate the potential for digital communication materials to rapidly and effectively communicate AMR messages to rural aquaculture farmers in Bangladesh.
EMA has been instrumental in bringing together experts from around the EU to create an efficient and robust system for the evaluation and supervision of human and veterinary medicines that serves citizens throughout the region by using a One Health approach to promote integrated cooperation between human and veterinary medicines. Veterinarians across the EU have been advised to consult the infographic when deciding what antibiotics to prescribe to animals.
In Ethiopia, improved access to veterinary drugs has led to their increasing use in food-producing animals. The animal health extension service that ought to educate and advise community members about integrated animal health management strategies is limited. Community members, including livestock keepers, have limited access to animal health education, advisory and training services. Livestock keepers often buy veterinary drugs from roadside markets and self-treat their animals without considering the consequences of administering these drugs themselves. Most of these small-scale farmers have limited knowledge of the link between misuse of veterinary drugs and the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which results in treatment failures in animals and humans. To address this knowledge and information gap, the CGIAR Research Program on Livestock in Ethiopia tested a community-based animal health extension approach using ‘community conversations’ to engage community members and local service providers in collaborative learning and joint action processes to increase AMR awareness.
