Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) significantly impacts global health, with infections claiming over 50,000 lives annually in Europe and the USA, and 80% of antimicrobial sales in the USA being attributed to agriculture. The livestock sector's antimicrobial consumption is projected to rise by 67% by 2030, particularly in BRICS countries, driving concerns about its contribution to AMR in human medicine. A coordinated global response and targeted actions in agriculture are essential to mitigate the effects of AMR on public health.

1. Antimicrobial resistance and
the global livestock sector
Visit by Sir Mark Walport to ILRI, 15 July 2015
Timothy Robinson, Delia Grace, Eric Fèvre

2. Antimicrobial resistance
• AMR infections currently claim at
least 50,000 lives each year across
Europe and the USA alone
….. with many hundreds of
thousands more dying in other
areas of the world
• In 15 European countries more
than 10% of bloodstream
Staphylococcus aureus infections
are caused by methicillin-resistant
strains (MRSA)
….. closer to 50% in several of these
Source: O’Neill (2014)
The O’Neill Report (2014)

3. Sources of antimicrobial resistance
Source: P. Huey (Science)
• Antimicrobial (ab)use in medicine
• Intensive livestock and aquaculture
• growth promotion
• prophylaxis and metaphylaxis
• Therapeutic use
• Natural phenomenon in environment
Aquaculture growth 1950-2010

4. Antimicrobial use in livestock
• Total consumption in the livestock
sector in 2010 estimated at 63,151
tons
• Global antimicrobial consumption will
rise by 67% by 2030
• It will nearly double in BRICS (Brazil,
Russia, India, China, and South Africa)
countries

5. Source: Gilbert et al. (in press)
Modelling intensification

6. Chicken systems
Extensive
chicken
production
Intensive
chicken
production
Source: Gilbert et al. (in press)

7. Antimicrobial resistance
Source: Van Boeckel et al. (2015)
Global antimicrobial consumption in livestock
(mg per 10km pixel)

8. Source: Gilbert et al. (in press)
2010
Intensification trajectories

9. Source: Gilbert et al. (in press)
2030
Intensification trajectories

10. Source: Gilbert et al. (under review)
2050
Intensification trajectories

11. Antimicrobial resistance
• In USA 80% of antimicrobial sales are in
the agricultural sector
• China’s livestock industry by itself could
soon be consuming almost one third of
world’s available antibiotics.
• Review for DFID by Delia Grace
indicates these to be considerable
underestimates in some developing
countries.
What contribution does
agriculture make to AMR
in human medicine ?

12. Antimicrobial resistance
• The European Union banned the use of
antibiotics to boost animals' growth in 2006
• There is a ‘voluntary’ ban in the USA
…… Chick-fil-A, McDonalds and Costco
• Very difficult to regulate in the developing and
emerging economies
➜ Strengthen the evidence base linking
agricultural use to AMR in the medical sector
➜ Concerted action – multi-stakeholder
platforms
➜ Appropriate approaches in different settings
– poor countries may not have the
‘resilience’ or ‘capacity’ of Europe in
withstanding a blanket ban, for example
➜ This is a global issue and calls for a
coordinated, global response

13. Project coordination
1. Estimating antimicrobial
consumption in agriculture
2. Biological analysis of
transmission pathways
4. Action research on reducing
antimicrobial use in agriculture
5. Economic and policy analysis
of interventions
3. Scenario modelling and information management
6. Realising practice change in antimicrobial use in agriculture
Multi-partner initiative

14. The presentation has a Creative Commons licence. You are free to re-use or distribute this work, provided credit is given to ILRI.
better lives through livestock
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