2.2 Why is a One Health approach needed to fight AMR?

The concept of ‘One Health’ is covered in detail in the module Introducing a One Health approach to AMR, but here is a summary:

As you saw above, antimicrobial resistance can spread between humans, animals, plants and the environment, and it is therefore important to take a ‘One Health’ approach to AMR surveillance. The WHO defines ‘One Health’ as ‘an approach to designing and implementing programmes, policies, legislation and research in which multiple sectors communicate and work together to achieve better public health outcomes’ (WHO, 2017). The WHO’s Global Action Plan on AMR recommends that in practice AMR surveillance systems should include data from all sectors, and that there is a coordinated effort across local, national and global levels (Figure 2) to mitigate the risk posed by AMR (WHO, 2015).

Figure 3 shows some of the ways that antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistant bacteria can travel around the environment and come into contact with humans, animals and the environment, reiterating the importance of a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach across multiple sectors to control AMR (CDC, 2018).

Therefore, a tripartite partnership composed of the United Nations agencies the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has been instigated. These three bodies signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2018 in which they committed to cooperate to address the issue of AMR, and to take a One Health approach to do so. The tripartite partnership has three main goals to:

  • ensure that antimicrobial agents continue to be effective and useful for curing diseases in humans and animals
  • promote the prudent and responsible use of antimicrobial agents
  • ensure global access to medicines of good quality.
Figure 3 Ways that antibiotics and antibiotic resistant bacteria can travel around the environment and come into contact with humans and animals (Linton, 1977).

These three organisations have each produced their own action plan to achieve these joint goals. You will learn more about the plans in the following activity.

Activity 2: Global action plans

Timing: Allow about 30 minutes

Each member of the tripartite has produced an action plan for AMR:

Have you seen any of these action plans before taking this course? It’s fine if you haven’t, as this activity will familiarise you with them.

Spend some time familiarising (or refamiliarising) yourself with the objectives in these documents by clicking on the links above. Look particularly at:

  • WHO: find the five objectives listed in ‘Strategic objectives’ (p. 8).
  • OIE: find the four objectives listed in ‘The Objectives of the OIE strategy’ (p. 7).
  • FAO: find the four focus areas listed in ‘The FAO action plan’ (p. 4).

Now answer the following questions.

  1. Copy the blank table in to the space below and list the objectives from each document. What do you notice about the objectives between the different agencies?
ObjectivesMy activities that relate to these
WHO
OIE
FAO
  1. Now note down as many responsibilities and/or tasks in your own job that you see as contributing to the objectives included in any one of the action plans on AMR.

Don’t worry if you cannot make any links between your work and these objectives – this just might not be possible.

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Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).

2.1 The importance of AMR surveillance

2.3 AMR, AMU and AMC – what are the differences?