In response to the increasing emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria, surveillance of AMR in pathogens and commensals should be established as a routine task of public veterinary services globally. National AMR surveillance program is a fundamental requirement to monitor changes and variations in AMR either geographically or over time. Systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of AMR data is essential to the planning, implementation and evaluation of control and prevention strategic plan. In South Asia, the systematic national surveillance of AMR in bacterial pathogens and commensals from livestock has been initiated in some countries but not yet been established as a routine task of public veterinary services in many countries. To form part of the global surveillance on AMR, laboratories must use a standardized, well-defined method for performing antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) in order to produce comparable results. At the same time, the results of AST studies carried out by academic institutions are often difficult to compare due to methodological differences.

Concept Note and Agenda