This year, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s Animal Health Awareness Week is set to take place in conjunction with World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), from 18 to 24 November.
During this week, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is organising a range of activities. These events aim to raise awareness of the importance of ensuring high standards of animal health to prevent and control disease for the primary benefit of farmers, but also wider society, as well as addressing the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance.
Internationally, WAAW is an annual event that highlights the continued global concern in relation to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the importance of prudent antibiotic use in humans and animals.
Antimicrobial resistance primarily impacts on human health, but any use of antimicrobials in either human or animal health will drive the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria.
Antibiotic treatment
Antimicrobials have saved millions of lives since they were first discovered, but their overuse and misuse in both humans and animals means that there are already diseases in certain parts of the world that have no effective antibiotic treatment.
The use of antimicrobials in the agriculture sector is coming under increasing scrutiny in light of the very real public health threat of AMR.
This week highlights the importance and value of taking a proactive approach to the protection of animal and public health, in consultation with veterinary practitioners and other agricultural advisers.
A key element of the week will be to re-emphasise the importance of the early detection of any new or exotic diseases so that control measures are put in place promptly, to contain any such outbreaks.
Healthy livestock are critical for economically sustainable livestock production; disease impairs productivity.
Healthy animals also contribute to environmental and social sustainable outcomes – optimising output per individual animal and thus reducing climate impacts, reducing antimicrobial use, ensuring the production of high-quality nutritious safe food and protecting animal welfare.
Proactive
In practice, a proactive approach to animal health can be realised through herd/flock-specific health plans. These plans are built upon optimising husbandry practices for health and welfare, improved biosecurity to keep disease away from non-infected animals, animal health surveillance to ensure early detection of disease and vaccination programmes to enhance the herd/flock’s immunity to overcome endemic disease challenges.
All these practices will reduce the occurrence of disease and improve farm productivity, reduce the need for antimicrobials in livestock and thereby reduce the development and spread of AMR.
The One Health concept, which recognises that the health of people, animals and our environment are inextricably linked, has never been more relevant than in these current times, with the recognition that human and animal populations can readily be a source of disease for each other.
The interfaces between wildlife, domestic animals and people is of particular concern.
Seventy per cent of emerging diseases in humans are zoonoses, or diseases
that can pass to humans from domestic or wild animals. COVID-19 is one such example.
The role of the environment in the development and spread of AMR is less well understood, but water contamination with antimicrobials is considered a possible source of resistant bacteria.
While livestock production does contribute to the climate challenges, changes in climate also impact on animal production. Increasing global temperatures are extending the habitat of vectors like midges, thereby facilitating their spread to regions where they were not previously present, which in turn leads to the spread of midge-borne diseases.
Increased rainfall has led to an increased distribution in ruminants’ exposure to liver and rumen fluke.
Webinars
The Department will host a series of evening webinars over the course of the week on a number of pertinent animal health topics which will be of interest to farmers, their vets and indeed the wider industry.
The aim of these webinars is to promote a more proactive approach among the livestock industry to improving animal health and reduce the public risks posed by AMR and zoonoses.
The importance of these topics to us as an industry and as a society is emphasised by the participation of the Department ministerial team in each of these webinars.
Each webinar has a specific theme:
Thursday 18 November: AMR presented from the perspective of human health experts, as well as a vet and farmer.Monday 22 November: One Health, which will consider zoonoses or diseases that can pass from animals to humans.Tuesday 23 November: herd health, with a special focus on the topics of selective dry cow therapy and parasite control on farm.Wednesday 25 November: emerging/re-emerging disease threats as we reflect on the 20-year anniversary of the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak and look towards future threats to our industry and how we may mitigate these threats. Speakers include Dr Philip Robinson, Harper Adams Veterinary School; Dr Fiona Lovatt, Farmvet champion from the RCVS; Finola McCoy, CellCheck programme manager; James Russell, British Veterinary Association; Prof Martin Cormican, HSE clinical lead on AMR; Dr Nuala O’Connor, GP lead AMRIC; Ailish Moriarty, Nuffield scholar; Dr Helen Roberts, chair of the human and animal infectious disease risk (HAIRS) group in the UK; and Dr Margaret O’Sullivan, HSE lead on zoonoses.
Other events
Over the course of the week, Department veterinary staff will also feature on a number of local radio stations and will participate in Teagasc podcasts on dairy, beef, sheep, the environment and pigs. They will also provide lectures to agricultural and veterinary students in third-level institutions on the topics of AMR and animal health awareness.
Animal Health and World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is an opportunity for us, as an industry, to reflect on the importance of maintaining high standards of health in our various livestock species for the benefit of farmers but also wider society. It is in all our interests in working together to realise this goal and it is important to participate in any of these events, to inform and improve animal health.
We trust that our comprehensive programme will have something of interest to everyone. Details for the webinars are available on gov.ie/animalhealth
This year, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s Animal Health Awareness Week is set to take place in conjunction with World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (WAAW), from 18 to 24 November.
During this week, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is organising a range of activities. These events aim to raise awareness of the importance of ensuring high standards of animal health to prevent and control disease for the primary benefit of farmers, but also wider society, as well as addressing the growing challenge of antimicrobial resistance.
Internationally, WAAW is an annual event that highlights the continued global concern in relation to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the importance of prudent antibiotic use in humans and animals.
Antimicrobial resistance primarily impacts on human health, but any use of antimicrobials in either human or animal health will drive the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria.
Antibiotic treatment
Antimicrobials have saved millions of lives since they were first discovered, but their overuse and misuse in both humans and animals means that there are already diseases in certain parts of the world that have no effective antibiotic treatment.
The use of antimicrobials in the agriculture sector is coming under increasing scrutiny in light of the very real public health threat of AMR.
This week highlights the importance and value of taking a proactive approach to the protection of animal and public health, in consultation with veterinary practitioners and other agricultural advisers.
A key element of the week will be to re-emphasise the importance of the early detection of any new or exotic diseases so that control measures are put in place promptly, to contain any such outbreaks.
Healthy livestock are critical for economically sustainable livestock production; disease impairs productivity.
Healthy animals also contribute to environmental and social sustainable outcomes – optimising output per individual animal and thus reducing climate impacts, reducing antimicrobial use, ensuring the production of high-quality nutritious safe food and protecting animal welfare.
Proactive
In practice, a proactive approach to animal health can be realised through herd/flock-specific health plans. These plans are built upon optimising husbandry practices for health and welfare, improved biosecurity to keep disease away from non-infected animals, animal health surveillance to ensure early detection of disease and vaccination programmes to enhance the herd/flock’s immunity to overcome endemic disease challenges.
All these practices will reduce the occurrence of disease and improve farm productivity, reduce the need for antimicrobials in livestock and thereby reduce the development and spread of AMR.
The One Health concept, which recognises that the health of people, animals and our environment are inextricably linked, has never been more relevant than in these current times, with the recognition that human and animal populations can readily be a source of disease for each other.
The interfaces between wildlife, domestic animals and people is of particular concern.
Seventy per cent of emerging diseases in humans are zoonoses, or diseases
that can pass to humans from domestic or wild animals. COVID-19 is one such example.
The role of the environment in the development and spread of AMR is less well understood, but water contamination with antimicrobials is considered a possible source of resistant bacteria.
While livestock production does contribute to the climate challenges, changes in climate also impact on animal production. Increasing global temperatures are extending the habitat of vectors like midges, thereby facilitating their spread to regions where they were not previously present, which in turn leads to the spread of midge-borne diseases.
Increased rainfall has led to an increased distribution in ruminants’ exposure to liver and rumen fluke.
Webinars
The Department will host a series of evening webinars over the course of the week on a number of pertinent animal health topics which will be of interest to farmers, their vets and indeed the wider industry.
The aim of these webinars is to promote a more proactive approach among the livestock industry to improving animal health and reduce the public risks posed by AMR and zoonoses.
The importance of these topics to us as an industry and as a society is emphasised by the participation of the Department ministerial team in each of these webinars.
Each webinar has a specific theme:
Thursday 18 November: AMR presented from the perspective of human health experts, as well as a vet and farmer.Monday 22 November: One Health, which will consider zoonoses or diseases that can pass from animals to humans.Tuesday 23 November: herd health, with a special focus on the topics of selective dry cow therapy and parasite control on farm.Wednesday 25 November: emerging/re-emerging disease threats as we reflect on the 20-year anniversary of the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak and look towards future threats to our industry and how we may mitigate these threats. Speakers include Dr Philip Robinson, Harper Adams Veterinary School; Dr Fiona Lovatt, Farmvet champion from the RCVS; Finola McCoy, CellCheck programme manager; James Russell, British Veterinary Association; Prof Martin Cormican, HSE clinical lead on AMR; Dr Nuala O’Connor, GP lead AMRIC; Ailish Moriarty, Nuffield scholar; Dr Helen Roberts, chair of the human and animal infectious disease risk (HAIRS) group in the UK; and Dr Margaret O’Sullivan, HSE lead on zoonoses.
Other events
Over the course of the week, Department veterinary staff will also feature on a number of local radio stations and will participate in Teagasc podcasts on dairy, beef, sheep, the environment and pigs. They will also provide lectures to agricultural and veterinary students in third-level institutions on the topics of AMR and animal health awareness.
Animal Health and World Antimicrobial Awareness Week is an opportunity for us, as an industry, to reflect on the importance of maintaining high standards of health in our various livestock species for the benefit of farmers but also wider society. It is in all our interests in working together to realise this goal and it is important to participate in any of these events, to inform and improve animal health.
We trust that our comprehensive programme will have something of interest to everyone. Details for the webinars are available on gov.ie/animalhealth
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