ReAct Asia Pacific: Competitions, webinars, social media campaigns and new Indonesian declaration on AMR

2022-11-25

Interactions with media, students and health professionals formed the highlight of various events held to mark the World Antibiotic Awareness Week in the Asia Pacific region. Learn more in article below.

Media and CSO webinar

On 18th November, the first day of awareness week, a webinar was organized jointly by React Asia Pacific and React Africa for media persons and civil society organizations on the theme – Antimicrobials in Agri-food Systems.

The event was supported by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation, with whom ReAct had implemented a project called  “Seeding and Scaling One Health Awareness and Action on AMR” during 2022. The project was meant to develop communication products to help reduce the need to use antimicrobials in food production, including three videos from Indonesia, Zambia and Ecuador and also a factsheet aimed at policymakers.

The webinar participants were mainly media persons, civil society organizations and students of both human health and veterinary medicine from the Asia-Pacific region. A panel discussion  was organized as part of the webinar, which included experts from the FAO, government officials and health professionals.

Scientific poster competition – top 3 contributions

At the end of the media webinar the top three winners of ReAct Asia Pacific’s scientific poster competition, organized in September 2022 , were announced by Dr Emmanuel Kabali, AMR Project Coordination & Technical Support Consultant with the FAO.

Effectuating innovations to address antimicrobial resistance in agriculture and aquaculture

An expert opinion. By: Eeshha Satish Pawaskar, India

2nd prize

Essential oils a a natural antimicrobial alternative in poultry feed.

By: Elna Mary Yesudas, Lakshmipriya Lija V Chandran Neha Sara Saji Shibin Varghese

3rd prize

Food security and antibiotic residues in milk and milk products.

By: Albin Joy, Anandhu Vijayan, Muhammad Nafel S

New declaration in Indonesia

On 22 November in Indonesia the Ministry of Agriculture, together with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and FAO declared five concrete steps to prevent antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

These include:

• Using antimicrobials wisely with the right type and dosage for the recommended period according to the prescription;
• Improving biosecurity and vaccination to reduce infection rates;
• Reducing the use of antimicrobials on farms and implementing good waste management;
• Investing in the use of vaccines, innovative antimicrobials and new technologies, and;
• Collaboration between industry and academia to share data and information in efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance.

“This declaration is a form of commitment and a concrete step of industry support for the 2020-2024 National Action Plan for Antimicrobial Resistance Control,”

said Nasrullah,

Director General of Livestock and Animal Health, Ministry of Agriculture.

The declaration was also signed by some of the largest poultry and pharmaceutical industries in Indonesia.

Vida Parady, Communications Officer, ReAct Asia Pacific moderated the talk show.

Link to look at the meeting where the new declaration was released (in Bahasa Indonesia)

Tempo.co article: Indonesia Declares Five Concrete Steps to Control Antimicrobial Resistance

Photo competition for students

In other events a photography competition was also organized for students by the ASPIC club, which was set up ReAct Asia Pacific to create awareness on antimicrobial resistance among students. The photography competition, in its 6th edition this year, is on the theme of “Preventing Antimicrobial Resistance together”. The results of the competition are expected to be announced soon after the conclusion of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week.

Kerala AMR Meet

The awareness week in the Asia-Pacific region also saw the holding of the Kerala AMR Meet 2022 in Thrissur, Kerala with technical presentations by veterinarians and human health experts from around the state.

The event was organized by ReAct Asia Pacific along with the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, Thrissur, the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and the Indian Veterinary Association, Mannuthy Unit, Kerala.

Social media campaigns

There was also considerable focus on media campaigns with a media briefing on 12 November by WHO and Ministry of Health, and a social media campaign by the Concerned and Caring Parents Foundation (YOP) between 14-18 November.

On 24th November a Twitter chat dealing with multiple questions around the themes of One Health and antimicrobial resistance was also carried out by ReAct Asia Pacific along with various partner organizations.