The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that the overuse of antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents is impacting rural livelihoods and food security, and requires globally coordinated efforts.
Speaking to European ministers of health and agriculture at a conference on antimicrobial resistance in Amsterdam Wednesday, FAO Deputy Director-General Helena Semedo emphasized that antimicrobial agents foster increasing resistance among the very microbes that cause the infections and disease they were designed to quell, thereby threatening to reverse a century of progress in human and animal health.
Aside from the human health considerations, Semedo underscored that the emergence of microbes resistant to antibiotics and other pharmaceutical agents puts animal health at risk and consequently has an impact on rural livelihoods and food security.
While resistance develops as part of natural adaptation, it is exacerbated by inappropriate use of pharmaceuticals, and the prevalence of resistance in the agricultural sector is generally higher in animal species reared under intensive production systems.
Although FAO favors prudent regulations and measures to control the influx of medicines and reduce their use, Semedo said that many rural smallholders and pastoralists often face difficult economic choices and that counterfeit drugs are rampant.
Considering that seven out of every 10 newly discovered human diseases are of animal origin, she also highlighted the centrality of farming practices and food systems in the effort to contain antimicrobial resistance.
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