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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been recognized as one of the greatest global threats to humans, animals, plants and ecosystems health threatening the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In our globally connected world, resistance to antimicrobials may spread and circulate among humans, animals, plants and the environment, necessitating a “One Health” approach. While the One Health approach is relevant to all efforts to prevent and control AMR, this priority research agenda focuses on research areas at the interface between sectors. This research agenda is a joint product of the Quadripartite organizations –FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH - and a result of extensive [...]

The use of antibiotics and thus the threat of of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can be reduced by adopting the right husbandry practices. This publication provides practical tips to the livestock producer aiming at improving animal health and hence the reduced use of antibiotics. Also available in Russian.

The use of antibiotics and thus the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can be reduced by adopting the right husbandry practices. This publication provides practical tips to the livesotck producer aiming at improving animal health and hence the reduced use of antibiotics. Also available in Russian.

This document provides guidance on undertaking risk assessment of all microbial hazards which may adversely affect human health in foods along a food chain. This document is also intended to provide practical guidance on a structured framework for carrying out risk assessment of microbiological hazards in foods, focussing on the four components including hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment and risk characterization. These guidelines therefore represent the best practice at the time of their preparation, and it is hoped that they will help stimulate further developments and disseminate the current knowledge.

A framework to implement the One Health approach at the national level may facilitate its implementation and assist national authorities in addressing the agenda of (i) enhancing national capacity for zoonotic diseases and AMR for prevention, detection and response; and (ii) improving joint coordination and collaboration between major stakeholders for control of zoonoses and AMR.With this objective, FAO has developed a National Framework for One Health to assist national authorities in initiating steps to strengthen efforts towards the control of AMR and disease in a comprehensive manner through collaborative activities among various sectors. The framework has been developed through extensive [...]

This action sheet is part of a series of action sheets developed under the seven key priority areas of the FAO COVID-19 Response and Recovery programme, the FAO umbrella programme designed to proactively and sustainably address the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic. Each action sheet includes a project proposal in support of countries most in need for which FAO is leveraging high-level political, financial and technical expertise. All action sheets are gathered on the Food Coalition web hub,  where members of the Coalition - a multi-stakeholder global alliance for a unified global action in response to COVID-19 - can easily [...]

On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development. At no other point in history has agriculture been faced with such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyperconnected world and a precipitously [...]

The urgent need for a positive impact on the livelihoods of livestock keepers is elaborated in this Regional Strategy for Animal Health and Production for FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (REU). This strategy aims to present the main aspects of REU’s work on livestock and includes three pillars – animal health, animal production, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – along with seven cross-cutting issues, among them gender, environmental sustainability, community farming as a business, and coordination with other international organizations. The strategy follows FAO’s commitment to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through continuous and dedicated work [...]

This document summarizes the online discussion 'Improving communications for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in Africa: How should we move forward?' held on the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) from 2 to 30 June 2020. The discussion was facilitated by Scott Newman of FAO’s Regional Office for Africa in Accra, Ghana.The emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through the misuse of antimicrobial drugs is complicating the management of many infectious diseases, thus endangering animal health and welfare as well as food production. The complexity of the AMR crisis and antimicrobial pollution requires a coordinated and integrated [...]

The anticipated transformation of the Kenyan livestock sector in the coming decades will result in increased public health risks. In order to well address these challenges, national and sub-national governments should adopt a One Health approach, which allows the mitigation of the negative effects of public health threats that originate at the interface between humans, animals and the different environments in which they operate. This paper provides an assessment on the extent to which the prevailing legislative framework facilitates the implementation of the One Health approach in Kenya, and opportunities for legislative reforms. We use a skeleton livestock value chain [...]