More than 500 participants gathered online on Tuesday 16 March 2021 to learn about the tools and resources that FAO and WHO make available to support countries in establishing and implementing their surveillance and monitoring systems on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). In the words of one participant, “it was so helpful to have everything laid out so clearly. Three different organizations, who does what, that was really well done”. Presentations from the Codex parent organizations and the World Organisation for Animal Health [...]

Close to 200 participants gathered online on 19 January 2021 for the first of two webinars aimed at building understanding on a Codex text currently being drafted in the Codex antimicrobial resistance task force (TFAMR). The text in question is the Guidelines on Integrated Monitoring and Surveillance of Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance which is being developed to assist governments when they design and implement their own AMR surveillance programmes. Typically, this type of programme will involve collecting and analyzing data from [...]

A webinar to discuss key issues on a Codex text regarding antimicrobial resistance (AMR), currently being drafted, will take place online on 19 and 20 January 2021. Working groups are established by Codex committees, usually to develop draft texts between sessions and traditionally operate by correspondence through online platforms such as forums and commenting systems. The suspension of formal physical committee meetings and the need to advance work, combined with experience and familiarity gained by many in participating in virtual events [...]

Development of the Jamaica Integrated Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Monitoring and Surveillance Programme for the Agriculture Sector Jamaica joined the world in celebrating World Antimicrobial Awareness Week, which ran from 18-24 November, 2020, via hosting of six AMR workshops on various livestock species to highlight the importance of antimicrobial resistance and gather information for the development of an Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance programme for the livestock sector. The animal production meetings were held from November 18-26 with participation by government officials from the [...]

Lee Eui-kyung Minister of Food and Drug Safety, Republic of Korea, opened the Ad hoc Codex Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), in Pyeongchang, underlining the need for bold action in order to conserve antibiotics for future generations. Minister Lee Eui-kyung urged delegates to move forward on their programme of work and complete the tasks assigned. “It's more crucial to have our recommendations and plans in place, than our plans themselves”, she said. Dr. Sangryeol Ryu, chairing TFAMR7 Due to the [...]

In opening remarks via video message to the Ad hoc Codex Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR), taking place in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea from 9 to 13 December 2019, FAO Director-General, Qu Dongyu will underline to delegates the importance of understanding where AMR is present and how to target it, as key to reducing the risks it poses. The work of the task force is an integral part of the food system transformation that FAO aims to achieve. Codex [...]

Mabel Aworh from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Nigeria reports on a week of action. The official 'Nigeria Antibiotic Guardian Pledge' was launched at a high-level event by Senate Committee Chair on Health, Dr. Ibrahim Oloriegbe and Chair on Agriculture and Productivity, ‪Abdullahi Adamu. Speaking to the Daily Trust website, Oloriegbe committed to raising awareness among Nigerians on the dangers of using human and veterinary antibiotics indiscriminately and promised to communicate in mass-messaging to educate Nigerians. “The media [...]

World Antimicrobial Awareness Week runs from 18 to 22 November 2019, and is an annual, global event through which FAO, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and WHO raise awareness about antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a serious health and livelihoods issue. The three organizations encourage stakeholders to treat antibiotics and other antimicrobials as a precious resource to be used prudently and responsibly. Food plays an important role in the development and spread of AMR. The presence of AMR microorganisms in [...]

Actions to mitigate the potential for the food supply chain to act as a conduit from the myriad environmental sources of antimicrobial resistance to the public health problems of antimicrobial resistant infections in people generally focus on two areas.  First, effective antimicrobial stewardship to reduce the use of antimicrobials in agriculture; and second, surveillance of antimicrobial resistance in pathogens in food.  In the presentation of their recent research to the first side event at CCAFRICA23, Professor Alex Hughes (above) of [...]

The Ad hoc Codex Intergovernmental Task Force on Antimicrobial Resistance (TFAMR) started its sixth week-long meeting today in Busan, Republic of Korea. With more than 250 Codex Members and Observers in attendance, the meeting will make progress on revising the Codex Code of Practice to Minimize and Contain Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance as well as developing the Guidelines on Integrated Surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance. "The problem seems simple”, said Dr Yong Ho Park, the TFAMR Chair, underscoring the rapid increase of microorganisms [...]