One Health Priority Research Agenda on Antimicrobial Resistance
Recently One Health Priority Research Agenda for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) has been released.
The agenda has been issued jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH). The agenda supports increasing research and investment in antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites mutate on their own over time and do not respond to drugs.
This makes the infection more difficult to treat and increases the risk of spreading disease, serious illness, and death. Earlier, WHO also launched a Global Research Agenda for AMR in Human Health this year.
The agenda presents a five-pillar One Health approach to combat the growing threat of AMR, which includes the following:
- Transmission: This focuses on the environmental, plant, animal and human sectors where transmission, circulation and spread of AMR occur.
- Integrated Monitoring: Identifying interrelated priority research questions to improve common technical understanding and information sharing among forest health stakeholders.
- Intervention: Interventions aimed at preventing, controlling or reducing the incidence, prevalence and spread of AMR.
- Behavioral Insights and Changes: Behavioral insights and changes among different groups and actors involved in the development and spread of AMR at One Health Interface.
- Economics and Policy: This takes into account the cost-effectiveness, financial sustainability and long-term financial impact of the AMR investment case.
One Health is an integrated and coordinated approach. It aims to sustainably balance and optimize the health of humans, animals, plants and ecosystems. It includes the following principles – equality between sectors and disciplines, socio-political and multicultural equality, socio-ecological balance (harmonious balance between human-animal-environment), transdisciplinarity and multi-sectoral cooperation etc.
Source – Down to Earth
