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The OIE has developed a voluntary data collection system on the use of antimicrobial agents in animals to which any country can contribute. The report presents the overall findings of the third annual data collection, providing a global and regional analysis from 2015 to 2017. A record of 155 countries participated in it, demonstrating increased international understanding and prioritisation of this issue.
Indeed, the report shows that the reported use of antimicrobials for growth promotion has declined from 60 to 45 countries since the last round of data collection. However, key antimicrobials, classified by the WHO as ‘Highest Priority Critically Important Antimicrobials’, including colistin, continue to be used routinely in several regions for this purpose. This practice puts at risk many of the medicines that we take for granted today, for both animals and humans.
The report shows positive progress, while 72 countries do not have a regulatory framework on the use of growth promotors, it is a decrease from the first database report in which 110 countries lacked such a framework. This decline suggests critical progress in the implementation of regulations on the use of antimicrobial agents.
For many countries, the process of establishing data collection systems at national level is as important as the data itself, and it demonstrates their willingness to be engaged.
Thanks to the process, several barriers to the collection of quality data were better understood and identified:
- Inadequate structure and enforcement of regulatory frameworks for antimicrobial use,
- Absence of adequate tools and human resources to facilitate the collection and analysis of data, and
- Lack of coordination and collaboration between national authorities, and with the private sector.
Encouragingly, each year new countries are able to report not only qualitative data but also quantitative, such as quantities of antimicrobial agents used. In the third report an increase of quantitative data by 32% since the data collection started.
Friday February 14, 2019/ OIE.
http://www.oie.int
