INDIA (Workshop)

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Meeting Access Code:  2742 867 1730

AGENDA / PROGRAMME OF THE DAY: 
Day 1 - 15^th December 2021: “Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) and implications for animal and environmental health in Asia”

Kindly note that New Delhi’s time zone is UTC +5:30 hours (so 4h30 ahead of Brussels)

Concept note of Day 1:

The UN General Assembly in 2016 noted that resistant of bacterial, viral, parasitic and fungal microorganisms to antimicrobials is due to inappropriate use in public health, food, agriculture and aquaculture sectors; because of which many achievements of 20^th century are seriously facing challenges including those in veterinary medicine. The use of antimicrobials is common in the modern animal practices leading to consequential outcomes of antimicrobial resistance.  The excessive use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture has significant public health implications, such as transmission through environment, food, direct contact between farm workers. Repeated exposure to low doses of antimicrobials, particularly in the context of widespread use of growth promoting antimicrobials, create an ideal environment for emergence of AMR in the animals. Particularly in Low Middle Income Countries  (LMICs), including India, there is an unprecedented demand for animal protein and as a result the countries have invested in intensive livestock production systems that generate excessive use of antimicrobials to prevent infections, keep animals healthy, and use in animal feed to increase productivity.

In the last decade, a number of surveillance networks for AMR have increased, majorly focusing on high income countries but the use of antimicrobials and its impact in LMICs is poorly documented. A number of policy responses involving addressing AMR and human health have attracted attention; however contribution and the role of the animal industry, farming stakeholders is these discussions has been limited. The first day of the workshop aims to address the existing trends on AMR in animal agriculture and animal farming industry; and its implications for public and environmental health. This workshop would also highlight how livestock and animal agriculture farmers manage animal diseases, what are the gaps and how can ‘One health’ approach be able to address some key issues.

KEYNOTE SESSION 1:

Description of discussion points:

Presenting the situation of AMR in Asia and threats for livestock and animal agriculture.

Objectives: (on both sides: for the participants and for the EU)

• To describe the AMR status quo in animal agriculture and foreseeable global threats for animal and environmental health.
• To understand the gaps in the knowledge practices landscape, policies, research and development for informed, explicit and judicious use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture.

VIRTUAL BREAKOUT SESSION IN WORKING GROUPS:

Description of discussion points:

The purpose of the breakout groups is to provide a focussed discussion among the participants for key drivers of AMR in agriculture practices, particular animal farming, livestock management and aquaculture. What are the implications for animal health and transmission to humans and the environment? The discussion would provide a platform for the participants to demonstrate and share country specific knowledge, information and experiences that will be strategic for developing and strengthening international cooperation in AMR issues in the context of farming and animal industry.

Working Group 1: Farming animals: animal disease identification, response management and prescribing antimicrobials in animal agriculture.

The aim of this session will be to discuss local experiences and knowledge from Asia; specifically India, China, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, The Philippines and South Korea on the identification of diseases based on symptoms and indicators in animal farms and treatment of sick animals; and practices on the use and misuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobials in farming, animal husbandry and livestock management. The workshop will explore the challenges in the production systems that necessitate the use of antimicrobials in modern animal agriculture industries particularly in India and other countries of the region. How much is the level of use of antimicrobials in farmed animals known and monitored? What is the level of awareness and sensitivity of all animal husbandry stakeholders (farmers, feed producers, veterinarians, pharmacists) about the use of antimicrobials in farmed animals? This session will aim at finding the bottlenecks in the animal agriculture production systems that need addressing to minimise the inappropriate use of antimicrobials in subsistence farming and industrial animal farming and reduce the impact of AMR on animal and environment health.

Working Group 2:  Minimising animal to human transmission of AMR: best practices and capacity development in Asia.  

This workshop will focus on sharing knowledge about mechanisms and best practices for minimising animal to human transmission of AMR in animal farming and food chain in Asia. What are the measures adopted globally and in Asian countries such as India, to ensure traceability of the sources of AMR in the animal and human food chains? Another area of discussion would be on how to develop laboratory diagnostic capacity and surveillance systems to effectively assess and monitor resistant organisms at animal-human interface in livestock and animal farming. What are the measures taken for awareness building among livestock farmers and animal agriculturalists, veterinarians and animal handlers in practicing pragmatic and judicious use of antimicrobials as growth promoters, or preventative and therapeutic uses?

Working Group 3: Aquaculture, AMR and ‘One health’

Use of antimicrobials in aquaculture provides a wider exposure for distribution of drug resistance through water in the ecosystem unlike other production and maintenance of other terrestrial farm animals. This not only has human health implications but also for sustainable ecosystems. Aquaculture and fisheries contribute to 8-10% of protein requirements in human diet; and yet the evidence on Antimicrobial resistance in aquatic animal food supply chain remains limited. Aquatic animal food supply chains are highly globalised and pose concerns for facilitating generation of local resistance at global scale; and global warming or warmer temperatures are also shown to be corrected with AMR levels of aquaculture-related bacteria. A range of aquatic animals are also consumed raw which increases the risk of transmission of resistance. This workshop would explore the barriers to safe aquaculture production and potential for solutions to sustainable aquaculture practices, minimising antimicrobials use and increasing productivity.

AGENDA / PROGRAMME OF THE DAY:
Day 2 - 16^th December 2021: “One health approach for Antimicrobial Resistance issues in animal agriculture”

Kindly note that New Delhi’s time zone is UTC +5:30 hours (so 4h30 ahead of Brussels)

Concept note of Day 2:

The second day of the workshop will focus on understanding wider issues on human, economic and environmental implications of AMR in animal agriculture and veterinary medicine. Some of the determinants of AMR in animals in LMICs include vulnerability of animals to bacteria or other micro-organisms due to malnutrition and lack of care, access to antimicrobial treatment, diagnostic capacities of the countries to identify diseases accurately and timely; food safety regulations and certification of animal husbandry practices. The anthropocentrism of antibiotic infrastructure is well documented, highlighting through the ideas of health and economic infrastructures, sanitation, food production, healthy body, and human productivity. Such infrastructures also provide a platform for multi-sectorial collaboration for shared practices for human, animal and environmental health. Although human and animal sectors have a shared goal of addressing zoonotic conditions, the motivation and focus for both sectors is different. Whilst human sector focuses on improving prescribing practices to improve human health and healthy living, it can be said that the animal sector is driven by economic concerns and inclined towards maximising safe meat and seafood production for human consumption. ‘One health’ has received a widespread endorsement from several sectors as the way forward in tackling multi-disciplinary problems, including zoonotic conditions and animal health. Nevertheless, the role of the animal agriculture industry, food industry and farmers has been limited. This workshop would aim to provide a platform for raising concerns and opportunities provided by the sectors that are crucial yet limited.

KEYNOTE SESSION 2:

Description of discussion points:

Addressing AMR issues in animals from ‘One health’ perspective.

The aim of the keynote session is to describe the significance of ‘One health’ approach for animal health, biosafety and biosecurity for sustainable ecosystems. The talk would focus on the feasibility and scalability of ‘One health’ model for animal agriculture, aquaculture and veterinary medicine. Taking into consideration of systems thinking, the talk would aim to address the challenges to meet an increased demand for animal protein in human diet whilst protecting the environment, animal health and welfare of the workers with economic profitability. What are the standards required for sustainable production; how new interventions and innovations can speed the prevention and treatments of animal diseases and limit health and economic losses?

Objectives:

• To describe emerging trends in interdisciplinary approaches to address AMR issues in animal health from ‘One health’ perspective
• To identify sustainable technologies that can be adopted in local country contexts in animal agriculture industry for identifying, monitoring and treatment of animal diseases

VIRTUAL BREAKOUT SESSION IN WORKING GROUPS:

Working Group 4: Optimising antimicrobial use and Stewardship in veterinary antimicrobials.

This workshop will focus on sharing knowledge about mechanisms of data collection, monitoring, diagnostics and treatments in veterinary practices and agriculture use of antimicrobials. This workshop will highlight some of the compliance and regulatory measures implemented in Europe and what are the drivers of change in trends in use of antimicrobials in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine.  What are the current stewardship gaps that are cause of concern and How European countries are addressing the challenges posed by these concerns? The purpose is knowledge sharing and developing understanding of stewardship practices for animal and environmental health through ‘One health’ approach.

Working Group 5: Biosafety and biosecurity: addressing farmers’ concerns and consumers perspectives on AMR.

One of serious concerns for emergence of AMR in animal agriculture is vertical and horizontal transmission of resistance from animals to human beings; and residual dispersion into the environment that may affect ecosystem. The purpose of this workshop is to highlight the safety and biosecurity concerns of the farmers and workers handling animals and animal products in the food supply and management systems. What are the gaps in existing tools provided for workers’ safety, provisions of biosecurity such as health certification and labelling processes involved in Asia? What are the resources required to improve work place safety on the farm? Lack of awareness about AMR and related issues among the public is highlighted in literature and recently held Bangkok conference. This workshop will extend this discussion in the context of animal farmers who are involved in animal production for food, and consumers about food consumption and AMR.

Working Group 6: Economic implications of AMR in animal agriculture.

There are critical knowledge gaps in areas such as the economic contributions of antimicrobials through their reduction in livestock disease burdens and their estimated impacts on hunger and poverty alleviation. This workshop aims to develop a better understanding of the economic dimension of antimicrobial use in animal production. The purpose is to highlight the costs and benefits of antimicrobial use in farming in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs); and what are the options for developing policies that incentivise producers with responsible and judicious use of antimicrobials; what are the global trade implications of AMR in animal agriculture for LMICs?