Agriculture
THE Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, has begun the training of veterinary and medical doctors on antimicrobial, pesticides residues surveillance to curtail Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR).
Dr Olaniran Alabi, the Director, Dept of Veterinary and Pest Control Services in the ministry said that the five-day training began on Monday in Jos.
According to him, the aim is to establish a surveillance system for antimicrobial and pesticides residues in food products of animal origin including honey.
Alabi in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), said that AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines.
The director said that AMR makes infections harder to treat as well as increase the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.
He said that antimicrobial resistance which was becoming a global health challenge was usually caused by misuse of antibiotics.
“And for us to adequately address it, we need to use multidisciplinary approach by bringing together the stakeholders because the abuse can either be in human or animals.
“That is why we are bringing our counterparts from human and animal health sectors so that we can look at the issue holistically so that we can use the collaborative approach to address the challenge.
“The training is to build the capacities of our health professionals in surveillance for antimicrobial and pesticide residues in foods of animal origin including honey
“To institutionalise surveillance for residues of veterinary anti-microbial and pesticides in food of animal origin including honey.
“To promote safe and responsible use of veterinary anti-microbial and pesticides,’’ he added.
According to the director, it is expected that at the end of the training, the stakeholders will be able to control the abuse of antibiotics so that people will not use them indiscriminately.
He noted that the abuse of antibiotics was mainly coming from animal health aspect.
“We are trying to encourage our animal officers to as much as possible where necessary avoid indiscriminate use of antibiotics.
“The training is for technical people, we are hoping that in future, we would also bring on board farmers who are involved in animal production to train and sensitise them because of abuse on their part.
“Once the animal is sick, they just go to the market, get the antibiotics and start administering.
“We also need to educate them on the implications of indiscriminate use of antibiotics,’’ he stressed.
NAN reports that the participants for the first phase of the training were drawn from the 19 northern states including Abuja.
The four participants from each state are the director of veterinary service, federal epidemiology officer, state epidemiology officer and one person from the state’s ministries of health. (NAN)
-August 03, 2021, 12:05 GMT|
Tags: Antimicrobial resistance: Agric ministry trains vets medical doctors
