The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) – Directorate of Poultry Research (DPR) organized a two-day training at the National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM) on 26-27 October in Hyderabad. The training focused on using an FAO-developed and validated protocol for the estimation of antimicrobial usage (AMU) at the farm level.

The two-day training was attended by 25 dedicated scientists, including Principal Investigators, Co-Principal Investigators of the Indian Network for Fisheries and Animal Antimicrobial Resistance (INFAAR), and officers from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), Government of India. The objective of the training is to establish a proficient pool of resources, equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to strengthen AMU surveillance and accurate estimation practices in India. AMU is a major driver of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Reduction in AMU shall have a corresponding mitigation in AMR. In addition, it is important to note that AMU is not limited to the human health sector but is largely present in the animal health and agriculture sectors as well.

As part of its commitment to combat AMR, India is currently revising its National Strategic Action Plan on AMR. The training programme organized by FAO and ICAR-DPR primarily focused on Strategic Objective 4 of the National Action Plan on AMR which emphasizes optimizing AMR. Currently, there is no available data on AMU in India and no tool for its estimation at the farm level. FAO's efforts recognized the pressing need for a solution which led to the development of a protocol for estimation of AMU at farm level, successfully validated by field visits.

FAO's objective is to strengthen India's national capacity for estimating AMU at the farm level. In the coming years, FAO hopes to contribute towards a more comprehensive understanding of AMU and its impact on antimicrobial resistance, ultimately working towards reducing these drivers of AMR.