The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) released a new report Feb. 14 that shows positive global progress on the regulation and monitoring of antimicrobial use in animals.

OIE said it developed a voluntary data collection system on the use of antimicrobial agents in animals to which any country can contribute. The report presents the overall findings of the third annual data collection, providing a global and regional analysis from 2015 to 2017. A record 155 countries participated, demonstrating increased international understanding and prioritization of this issue, the organization said.

“The OIE database is an important initiative-building national and global surveillance capacity on antimicrobial use in animals,” OIE director-general Dr. Monique Eloit said. “Irrespective of the financial resources at their disposal, OIE aims to support countries to ensure that antibiotics and other important veterinary medicines are used prudently and responsibly. One of OIE’s key recommendations is for countries to immediately phase out the use of critical antimicrobials for growth promotion.”

Indeed, OIE pointed out that the data show that the reported use of antimicrobials for growth promotion has declined from 60 to 45 countries since the last round of data collection. However, key antimicrobials, classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "highest-priority critically important antimicrobials," including colistin, continue to be used routinely in several regions for this purpose. OIE said this practice puts at risk many of the medicines that are taken for granted today for use in both animals and people.

OIE said the development of a robust regulatory framework is a key component to protect and ensure responsible and prudent use of antimicrobial agents in animal health and production. It is also a powerful instrument to phasing out their use as growth promoters while recognizing that voluntary approaches can be effective in certain countries.

The report shows positive progress: While 72 countries do not have a regulatory framework on the use of growth promotors, that number is a decrease from the first database report in which 110 countries lacked such a framework, OIE noted. This decline suggests critical progress in the implementation of regulations on the use of antimicrobial agents.

“Many countries have already taken key actions, such as setting up surveillance systems and regulating the use of antimicrobials in human and animal health, but we still have a long way to go,” WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “Working together is the only way to avoid the huge human, social, economic and environmental costs of antimicrobial resistance.”

For many countries, the process of establishing data collection systems at the national level is as important as the actual data and demonstrates their willingness to be engaged.

Thanks to the process, OIE said several barriers to the collection of quality data were better understood and identified, including:

* Inadequate structure and enforcement of regulatory frameworks for antimicrobial use;

* Absence of adequate tools and human resources to facilitate the collection and analysis of data, and

* Lack of coordination and collaboration between national authorities and with the private sector.

Encouragingly, OIE said each year new countries are able to report not only qualitative but also quantitative data, such as quantities of antimicrobial agents used. In the third report, there was a 32% increase in quantitative data supplied since the data collection started. For this, it is necessary to engage all stakeholders in the fight against antimicrobial resistance, ranging from regulators to veterinarians, farmers, business and the food industry.

“Antimicrobials are important in ensuring the health of people and animals as well as livelihoods, food security and food safety, but these medicines need to be used responsibly,” said Jose Graziano da Silva, director-general of the U.N. Food & Agriculture Organization. “We encourage countries to engage with all stakeholders in promoting the prudent and responsible use of these important medicines, including across the agricultural sectors.”

Despite the improvements observed, increasing the capacity of competent authorities within countries to regulate antimicrobial use in animals nationally must remain a strong objective for the international community, OIE concluded.