Food Protection Trends - September/October 2017 - 354

Health Assembly adopted a Resolution that called for the
development of a Global Action Plan (GAP) on AMR
and strengthening of collaboration among what are often
referred to as the tripartite: the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World
Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organization
for Animal Health (OIE) to combat AMR within the
context of the "One Health" approach. The GAP, which
was developed by WHO with inputs from FAO and OIE
and which was adopted in 2015 (41), sets out five strategic
objectives: (1) to improve awareness and understanding of
AMR; (2) to strengthen knowledge through surveillance
and research; (3) to reduce the incidence of infection;
(4) to optimize the use of antimicrobial agents, and (5) to
develop the economic case for sustainable investment that
takes account of the needs of all countries and increases
investment in new medicines, diagnostic tools, vaccines and
other interventions. It clearly recognizes a role for the food
and agriculture sectors in multi-sectoral global efforts to
combat AMR. Further, in September, 2016, world leaders
at the United Nations General Assembly recognized the
importance of AMR as a health issue and committed to
"taking a broad, coordinated approach to address the root
causes of AMR across multiple sectors, especially human
health, animal health, and agriculture" (42).

GLOBAL COMMITMENT TO AMR IN THE FOOD
AND AGRICULTURE SECTOR
Highlighting the importance of this issue for the food
and agriculture sector, FAO members in 2015 adopted
a Resolution on AMR (12) that set out targets for the
membership and the FAO. The commitment of OIE was
also concretized through the adoption of a resolution on
AMR in 2015 (30). The challenge now is to channel and
convert the high-level political commitment to this issue
into real action. To address this, FAO has defined and
published its strategy through its plan of action to support
the food and agriculture sector in addressing AMR. FAO's
plan revolves around four pillars: (1) awareness of the issue,
its impact on the sector and commitment to action; (2)
evidence (through surveillance and monitoring) to support
the development of locally relevant strategies and data
against which to measure progress; (3) governance both
locally and internationally, and (4) the promotion of good
practices in food and agricultural systems to reduce the use
of antimicrobials and the spread of antimicrobial resistance
(Fig. 1) (14). OIE has also recently published its strategy on
antimicrobial resistance (31).
The complexity and interconnectivity of the environment
in which AMR develops and is disseminated means that
the success of any effort depends on achieving effective

Figure 1. The four pillars of the FAO plan of action to support the food and agriculture sector in addressing AMR

354

Food Protection Trends September/October
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - September/October 2017
