FAO supports Seychelles in drafting antimicrobial resistance action plan   |20 September 2022

Delegates and guests in a souvenir photograph after the official launch of the workshop yesterday (Photo: Joena Meme)

‘The fight against AMR is a race against time!’ – Dr Charles Beliko

Delegates from Seychelles and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) are meeting this week to evaluate the implementation of the antimicrobial resistance national action plan (AMR-NAP) and to assess the National Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System with the FAO-ATLASS tool in a national workshop at the Eden Bleu Hotel.

Together with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment and the One Health National Platform, they will use tools provided by the FAO to map and assess the laboratory capacity to analyse and detect antimicrobials in the food and agricultural sectors, how the data collected is analysed as well as find ways to further improve the system put in place.

“The fight against AMR is a race against time!” stated Dr Charles Beliko, the FAO representative for Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles in his virtual opening of the workshop.

He commended Seychelles for the work the country is doing regarding the AMR in the different sectors – health, fisheries, agriculture, aquaculture, legislation, environment etc.

One of the core values of this initiative is the concrete and positive transformation of food systems in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner in order to achieve the 2030 agenda for health and prosperity for all. Our ability to feed a growing population depends on how well we protect our food systems from growing threats. This is especially true with respect of AMR which is rapidly emerging as one of the greatest threats to lives, livelihoods and economies. AMR jeopardises progress towards the sustainable development goals as more and more agriculture producers may find it difficult to prevent and control infections, shared Dr Beliko.

“It is our responsibility to prevent economic losses caused by the contamination of various environments that resistant microbes that cross borders and spread easily between human and animals populations. There is a critical need to increase awareness, strengthen surveillance and research, promote good practices, and strengthen governments and sustained resources. The fight against AMR is a race against time! There is increasing pressure on our agricultural systems to produce nutritious food in a safe and sustainable manner in the face of climate change, declining natural resources and global health threats including pandemics and drug resistant infections. Human and animal waste, hospital and clinic waste water and discharges from production sites which are contaminated with resistant microorganisms can also enter the environment. This will increase unless we act immediately through improved practices.”

While launching the workshop, Health Minister Peggy Vidot shared that “As a health worker and Minister for Health, I am well aware of the threats to the health of our people from infections caused by organisms that are increasingly resistant to available antibiotics. I am also conscious that this is a growing world-wide problem and that Seychelles, as a small island community, is more vulnerable to the spread of antimicrobial resistance and its impact. Resistance to antimicrobials is a daily concern, and results in prolonged illness and disability, longer hospital stays, deaths and increasing financial costs to the health services. While the problems are increasing, progress in the development of new and effective antibiotics and antimicrobials is stalling. Over-prescribing of antibiotics by health professionals and increasing expectation and demand on the part of patients to treat even the mildest symptoms with antibiotics feed a vicious cycle. Unregulated and inappropriate sale of products that contain antibiotics adds to the pressures.”

She underlined the fact Seychelles do know enough about these issues and do not have the reliable data which would allow us to assess the magnitude of malpractices and the extent of antimicrobial resistance.

“We have now set up a technical working group to support the establishment of a national Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee with cross-sectoral participation. The terms of reference have already been developed and await validation. The World Health Organisation has assisted with an AMR database which will provide data for a baseline assessment of the AMR situation in Seychelles,” stated Minister Vidot.

The Minister for Agriculture, Climate Change & Environment, Flavien Joubert, added that the main objective of the workshop is to focus on capacity building of our people to deal with the issues. “We are aware that this is a problem in the health system not only in Seychelles but worldwide. It also affects the livestock production as animals in the wild and on the farms do interact.

Seychelles did draft a national action plan on antimicrobial resistance in 2017 and validated in 2018, shared Dr Jimmy Melanie.“But we did not move further than that; now with the help of FAO, the country is reviewing the draft and we will also include new elements that will ensure that we have an action plan that is more up to date with developments in the field. This will especially apply in the field of surveillance, control and resistance and at the same time we will learn how to report on the issue.”

Dr Melanie confirmed that some elements of the previous draft were implemented in the public health lab and with this new action plan animal tests will be included.

Vidya Gappy

Encadre

What is AMR?

According to FAO, Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the ability of microorganisms to persist or grow in the presence of drugs designed to inhibit or kill them. These drugs, called antimicrobials, are used to treat infectious diseases caused by microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoan parasites.

When microorganisms become resistant to antimicrobials, standard treatments are often ineffective, and in some cases, no drugs provide effective therapy. Consequently, treatments fail. This increases illness and mortality in humans, animals and plants.  For agriculture, this causes production losses, damages livelihoods and jeopardizes food security. Moreover, AMR can spread among different hosts and the environment, and antimicrobial resistant microorganisms can contaminate the food chain.

Every time we use antimicrobials in people, animals and plants, germs have a chance to acquire the ability to tolerate the treatments by becoming resistant, making the drugs less effective over time.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global threat of increasing concern to human and animal health. It also has implications for food safety, food security and the economic wellbeing of millions of farming households.

The use of antimicrobials in animal and plant production is influenced by an interplay of many factors:

• Burden of diseases that are otherwise preventable through modification of environmental hygiene, nutrition, husbandry and other management practices;
• Limited access to animal and plant health experts, as well as limitations in training and support for these experts;
• The use of antimicrobials as growth and production promoters in animals;
• Lack of regulation and oversight of the use of antimicrobial drugs;
• Over the counter or internet sales that make antimicrobial drugs readily available;
• Availability and use of substandard and falsified antimicrobials;
• Lack of awareness regarding good practices, leading to excessive or inappropriate use;
• Anthropological, sociocultural, political and economic factors that pose barriers good practices.