OIE Raise Awareness of Antibiotics

World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) during one week make publicly available its internet portal, along with new posters and infographics, to enable national authorities, veterinarians, breeders and animal owners to take a more effective role in counteracting the major threat to public health posed by antimicrobial resistance. The responsible and prudent use of antibiotics, in both people and animals, is crucial, which is why OIE chose to launch the first World Antibiotic Awareness Week from 16 to 22 November 2015.

The purpose of this week is to raise awareness of best practice for using antibiotics to reduce the risks of bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics and to prolong their effectiveness. With the knowledge that 60% of human pathogens came originally from animals, it is clear that bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics pose a serious threat to the treatment of both animal and human diseases throughout the world.

“Ensuring the responsible and prudent use of antibiotics for animals is essential to protect their effectiveness, not only for animal health and animal welfare but also for human health. This is why we need better controls on the production, registration, importation, distribution and use of antibiotics, as well as good legislation, qualified veterinarians and a well-organized veterinary profession to oversee their use in animals,” said Dr Bernard Vallat, Director General of the OIE.

For more than ten years, the OIE has actively worked to promote the appropriate use of antibiotics in animals and published intergovernmental standards in this field in May 2015 which have been adopted by all of the OIE’s 180 Member Countries (including Georgia), which have undertaken to implement them in their own territories.

In the framework of World Antibiotic Awareness Week, OIE highlighted the main points of these standards and made clear infographics for policy makers, veterinarians and farmers, as the representatives of all these structures have to be involved. OIE focused on misuse of antibiotics, hygiene methods, vaccination strategies, buying antibiotics from authorized sources, preventing infections, and more.

These topics, infographics and posters are available on the OIE portal from this week. They were designed in conjunction with WHO and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), under the framework of WHO’s ‘Handle Antibiotics with Care’ campaign.

Further information is available at

www.oie.int

Eka Karsaulidze