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World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) is celebrated every year in November, this year the CGIAR AMR Hub at the International Livestock research Institute (ILRI) jointly with Kenya's ministries of Health and Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Irrigation hosted, at the ILRI campus in Nairobi, a media sensitization on raising antimicrobial resistance (AMR) awareness.  Twenty-five journalists from a cross section of Kenya's media houses and magazine publishers attended the event and were joined by key speakers and observers from the Ministry of Health, the Directorate of Veterinary Services, the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and the University of Nairobi (UONBI).

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) participates in the launch of the manual “Prudent and efficient use of antimicrobials in pigs and poultry”, which aims to reduce the use of antibiotics in animal husbandry. The launch took place at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization FAO headquarters in Rome. Also included was Sweden's ambassador to Italy, representatives from the Ministry of Industry, FAO's Deputy Director General and Chief Veterinarian. The launch is part of World Antibiotics Awareness Week (WAAW) which is currently underway. 

July to September 2019 issue provides an overview of activities taking place by the CGIAR AMR hub led by ILRI that has been developed with our partners for this quarter. 

In low- and middle- income countries trends in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in animals are poorly documented and in the absence of systematic surveillance systems, point prevalence surveys present a largely untapped source of information to map trends in AMR in animals. As reported last week by Maryn McKenna, a journalist and contributor for WIRED, the director of the center of disease dynamics, economics and policy in Washington, DC said recently that ‘everyone talks about antibiotics resistance in humans, but no one has been talking about antibiotic resistance in animals’. The comments were in response to the findings of a study looking at the trends of antimicrobial resistance in animals from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) that are poorly documented. Researchers used geospatial modeling to produce maps of AMR in LMICs and give policymakers a baseline for monitoring AMR levels in animals and target interventions in the regions most affected by the rise of resistance.