{"id":102203,"date":"2017-11-20T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=102203"},"modified":"2017-11-27T10:56:20","modified_gmt":"2017-11-27T10:56:20","slug":"with-un-support-more-countries-confronting-threat-of-drug-resistant-superbugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/11\/with-un-support-more-countries-confronting-threat-of-drug-resistant-superbugs\/","title":{"rendered":"With UN Support, More Countries Confronting Threat of Drug-Resistant ‘Superbugs’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>17 Nov 2017<\/em> \u2013 Efforts to stem the spread of antimicrobial resistant pathogens on farms and in food systems are gaining strength, thanks to strong backing by governments and technical support from the United Nations to boost national capacities, the Organization’s food security and health agencies reported Friday.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to the first annual survey<\/a> conducted by FAO (the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN), WHO (World Health Organization) and a global intergovernmental body on animal health (World Organization for Animal Health), more than 6.5 billion people \u2013 over 90 per cent of the world’s population \u2013 now live in country that has in place, or is developing a national action plan on antimicrobial resistance (AMR).<\/p>\n

\u201cNearly all of these plans cover both human and animal health in line with the recommended ‘one health<\/a>‘ multisectoral approach,\u201d said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO<\/a>) in a news release<\/a> announcing the findings.<\/p>\n

The report’s release comes at the end of World Antibiotic Awareness Week <\/a>, which kicked off this on Monday 13 November.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A row of cattle waiting to be fed at the National Livestock Development Board Farm in Mahaberiyathenna, Sri Lanka.
Photo FAO<\/p><\/div>\n

Antimicrobial medicines \u2013 antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals or antiparasitics \u2013 are widely used in livestock, poultry and aquaculture operations to treat or prevent diseases.<\/p>\n

However, their over-use and misuse, such as for \u201cpromoting growth\u201d is leading to the emergence of microbes resistant to these drugs, making the diseases they cause difficult or in cases, impossible, to treat. Humans exposed to these antimicrobial resistant<\/a> pathogens are also affected in the same way.<\/p>\n

There is progress, but there are also gaps<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since the survey was completed last year (2016), more countries have unveiled plans to tackle AMR.<\/p>\n

Yet despite the progress, the global push to address this problem \u2013 which is taking epic proportions \u2013 is still in its early stages.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are weak points that still need to be shored up \u2013 particularly in the food and agriculture sectors of low- and middle-income countries, key battlegrounds against ‘superbugs’ resistant to conventional medicines,\u201d FAO cautioned.<\/p>\n

ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE \u2013 What you need to know<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In particular, there are major gaps in data regarding where, how and to what extent antimicrobials are being used in agriculture; also systems and facilities for tracking the occurrence of AMR in food systems and the surrounding environment need to be strengthened.<\/p>\n

According to Ren Wang, FAO Assistant Director-General for Agriculture and Consumer Protection, the UN food security agency, along with its partners, is using its expertise and experience to assist developing countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to help them develop the tools and capacity to implement best practices in animal and crop production, reduce the need for antimicrobials in food systems, develop surveillance capacity to assess the scale of AMR and efforts to control it, and strengthen regulatory frameworks to minimise the misuse of antibiotics while simultaneously ensuring access to drugs for treating sick animals,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 un.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

17 Nov 2017 \u2013 Antibiotics, antifungals, antivirals or antiparasitics are widely used in livestock, poultry and aquaculture to treat or prevent diseases. However, their over-use and misuse, such as for \u201cpromoting growth\u201d is leading to the emergence of microbes resistant to these drugs, making the diseases they cause impossible to treat. Humans exposed to these antimicrobial resistant pathogens are also affected in the same way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":102204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-united-nations","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}