The Lancet marks World Antibiotic Awareness Week with series on access and effectiveness of antimicrobials

Infographic on antibiotic resistance and what steps the agriculture sector can take to tackle this global challenge (credit: World Health Organization).

The Lancet yesterday (18 Nov 2015) published a new series titled Antimicrobials: sustainable access and effectiveness in recognition of the World Health Organization’s inaugural World Antibiotic Awareness Week, 16 to 22 November 2015.

The theme of the global campaign, Antibiotics: Handle with Care, reflects the overarching message that antibiotics are a precious resource and should be preserved. They should be used to treat bacterial infections, only when prescribed by a certified health professional. Antibiotics should never be shared and the full course of treatment should be completed – not saved for the future.

The five papers in the Lancet Series cover access to effective antimicrobials as a global challenge, understanding the mechanisms and the drivers of antimicrobial resistance, maximizing access to achieve appropriate human antimicrobial use in low- and middle-income countries, exploring the evidence base for national and regional policy interventions to combat resistance, and international cooperation to improve access to and sustain effectiveness of antimicrobials.

Accompanying the papers are three comments that discuss achieving the balance between sustainable access and sustainable effectiveness of antibiotics, animal production and antimicrobial resistance in the clinic and national action for global gains in tackling the challenge of antimicrobial resistance.

Timothy Robinson, a scientist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is the lead author of the comment titled Animal production and antimicrobial resistance in the clinic. His co-authors are Heiman F.L. Wertheim, Manish Kakkar, Samuel Kariuki, Dengpan Bu and Lance B. Price.

Follow the Twitter conversations at #AntibioticResistance

 

Study calls for One Health approach in continued research on potential role of pigs in Ebola transmission in Uganda

Local breed sow and piglets on a farm in Masaka district, Uganda (photo credit: ILRI/Eliza Smith).

Zoonotic diseases are most dangerous when they take animal and human health workers by surprise, giving the public and disease control officials no advance warning or time to put prevention measures in place. The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa illustrates the adverse consequences of trying to tackle a disease outbreak too late and with little information.

Ebola is a serious but mysterious disease; in Uganda, there is little solid information on the reservoir and transmission of Ebola. However, research findings in the last few decades have given rise to speculation that there could be associations between pigs and Ebola.

Currently, there is no evidence that pigs have had any role in past outbreaks of Ebola virus disease. But given the huge importance of pigs to the Ugandan economy, diet and livelihoods, it is important to investigate any potential links sooner rather than later.

A recent study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) argues there are several factors that support the potential role of pigs in the transmission of Ebola to humans in Uganda. It is critical that this hypothesis be investigated in order to understand the risks to the country’s burgeoning pig production industry.

A spatial representation of potential risk factors for zoonotic transmission involving pigs in Uganda could be used to initiate further investigations into Ebola and other zoonotic diseases known to affect pigs in Uganda.

The researchers call for a One Health approach to the continued research. The benefit of this multidisciplinary approach is that limited resources can be utilized efficiently to improve the health and livelihoods of Ugandans through enhanced food safety and security, and the preservation of important ecosystem services, such as those provided by bats and other wildlife.

Clear and consistent risk communication from all research partners will be of utmost importance in preventing hysteria and delivering good outcomes for wildlife conservation and livelihoods.

Download the policy brief, One Health approach recommended in investigating and communicating the potential role of pigs in transmitting Ebola in Uganda written by Eliza Smith of KYEEMA Foundation and Christine Atherstone and Delia Grace of ILRI.

 

Lessons in informality from Kenya’s dairy sector

A typical milk bar in Kenya. Packaged milk in supermarkets has been found to be no better at meeting food safety standards than raw milk sold from kiosks (photo credit: ILRI/Dave Elsworth).

Kenya’s informal dairy markets are central to the livelihoods, food security and nutrition of the majority of its citizens, particularly the poor, women and children. Kenya’s informal dairy market is significant in size – 86% of Kenya’s milk is sold by unorganized, small-scale businesses in informal markets or consumed directly at home. The sector generates 70% of the 40,000 jobs in dairy marketing and processing.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) has been working in partnership with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya to explore the impacts of efforts to govern Kenya’s dairy sector in a way that works with, rather than against, informal, small-scale milk vendors. We looked at the impact on milk vendors, on food safety and on sustainability, with the findings published in the final briefing in a series on innovations in policy approaches to informality.

Read the rest of the blog post, Lessons in informality from Kenya’s dairy sector, by Emma Blackmore. Originally posted on the IIED website.

 

New learning resource provides key evidence on food safety in developing countries

A woman milks one of her goats in Ségou District, Mali (photo credit: ILRI/Valentin Bognan Koné).

Livelihoods advisers and other interested development professionals can now benefit from a new learning resource on food safety in developing countries. It was written by Delia Grace, a veterinary epidemiologist and food safety expert at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and published by Evidence on Demand, an international development information hub supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID).

The learning resource, Food safety in developing countries: An overview, aims to provide ‘non-food safety experts’ with a good understanding of foodborne disease within the broader context of ‘development’ discussions. It assumes that readers already have a solid grasp of international development contexts, and current development discourse.

It is presented in three main sections:

Part 1 will help readers to understand what is meant by foodborne disease and its impact. It summarises current best evidence and knowledge gaps on foodborne disease in developing countries.

Part 2 summarises some of the interventions for managing food safety and stimulates thinking about the ‘so what’ questions. It shows that foodborne disease is preventable.

Part 3 covers food trends and drivers that affect food safety in developing countries in more detail. It also reviews the geography of food safety and how this impacts on people who are poor, and looks at what food safety means for small farmers, export industries, women, the most vulnerable people, and for nutrition.

The conclusions presented at the end capture what the current best evidence is telling us:

• Food safety has been neglected in developing countries. There is growing evidence that foodborne disease may be an important contributor to gastrointestinal disease.
• Foodborne disease has been increasing in developed countries and is likely to increase in developing countries.
• Foodborne disease is not just a health issue. Already a major determinant of export market access, it is increasingly affecting domestic markets.

 

El Niño predictions signal urgent need to prepare for Rift Valley fever epidemics in eastern Africa

Orma Boran cattle crossing a river in Kenya. Both cattle and people can be infected with Rift Valley fever (photo credit: ILRI /Rosemary Dolan).

Recent climate predictions suggest East Africa may be in line for an epidemic of Rift Valley fever – an infectious disease which can hit people, their livestock and livelihoods, and national economies hard.

Data from the Climate Prediction Center and International Research Institute for Climate and Society suggest there is a 99.9% chance there will be an El Niño occurrence this year, with a 90% chance it will last until March/April 2016.

At least two of the most recent Rift Valley fever epidemics in East Africa—those in 1997-98 and 2006-07—were associated with El Niño weather patterns, with Kenya suffering losses amounting to US$32 million.

Given the strong predictions of an El Niño occurrence, and the established association between El Niño and Rift Valley fever risk, countries in the Horn of Africa need to start preparing to manage the developing risk.

In particular, public education on the linkages between the expected weather patterns and disease risk is vital to minimize human exposure to the disease should an epidemic occur.

Read the full article by Bernard Bett, a veterinary epidemiologist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

 

Is the empowerment of women livestock keepers the key to improved nutrition? A new study seeks to find out

ILRI policies, instititions and livelihoods program

A woman milking a cow in Tanga, Tanzania (photo credit: ILRI/Paul Karaimu)

Written by Alessandra Galie
One of the main goals of gender research in the CGIAR research program on Livestock and Fish is improved nutrition. This is also one of the 4 pillars of the program’s gender strategy and one of the 3 system level outcomes of the CGIAR. Good nutrition in the first 1000 days of a child’s life and for lactating mothers is particularly important for the child’s cerebral and physical development. Good nutrition is therefore considered the basis to improve livelihoods and general well-being. Because higher levels of gender inequality are associated with higher levels of both acute and chronic under nutrition (FAO 2012), gender research in research program focuses on enhancing the empowerment of women livestock keepers and consumers.

Animal source foods (ASF) have been shown to offer enormous potential for nutrition in developing countries…

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ILRI presentations win prizes at international conference on pork safety

Maurice Murungi, a graduate fellow attached to the Urban Zoo project, receives the award for best oral presentation by students at the Safe Pork 2015 conference (photo credit: ILRI/Fred Unger).

With rapidly increasing populations and unprecedented rates of urbanization, the demand for meat also rises. Much of this demand is being met by poultry and pig meat as production is well placed to scale up because of short cycles, large numbers of offspring and ability to grow fast on cereal feeds.

In the case of pork, however, one crucial barrier must be overcome if it is to contribute optimally to feeding the future: pork safety. Indeed, since prehistoric times, pork has been subject to taboos and it has been argued that this is because of the large number of parasites and pathogens that pigs can carry.

The biennial Safe Pork conference is the premier meeting for researchers, industry and policymakers concerned with the safety of pork. This year, the meeting was held on 7-10 September in Porto, a coastal city in Portugal, and was co-organized by Spanish and Portuguese universities.

Scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) presented findings from the Livestock and Fish and Agriculture for Nutrition and Health research programs in the smallholder pig sectors of Uganda and Vietnam as well as from the Urban Zoo project on urban livestock value chains in Kenya and work on possible links between pork production and antimicrobial resistance.

Three ILRI scientists (Delia Grace, Maurice Murungi and Fred Unger) attended as well as visiting scientist Pablo Alarcon. Although our delegation was small, our impact was high and ILRI was awarded two of the four ‘best in show’ prizes: Maurice accepting the prize for best oral presentation by students on behalf of the Urban Zoo team and Delia the prize for best poster on behalf of the PigRisk team.

The conference was an excellent snapshot of the big issues in pork safety. There were several presentations on the most serious zoonotic pathogens in modern pork industries: Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria.

Emerging pathogens were of obvious concern with presentations on hepatitis E and livestock-associated Staphylococcus. In his sum up, the chair said that antimicrobial resistance was the issue of the day; this was witnessed by two sessions on this important topic. Both economics and One Health had a profile.

Overall, the focus of the conference was mostly on intensive swine production in Europe and North America. This had the side effect of drawing more attention to ILRI presentations as participants were interested to hear views from the South and in a globalized world, disease is not a regional problem.

As was pointed out, Denmark may successfully reduce treatment regimes from 20 milligrams to 10, but if countries elsewhere are using thousands of tons of antibiotics a year, their achievement will have little impact in curbing rising antimicrobial resistance.

The conference format was all plenaries, increasing the salience of presentations, and industry was well represented from both pharmaceutical and production sectors.

All in all, the conference was a good opportunity to disseminate ILRI research, get updated on pork safety and network for future collaboration. The next Safe Pork meeting will be held in 2017 in Brazil.

Listed below are the ILRI presentations at the Safe Pork 2015 conference.

Assessing and understanding food safety risk practices in Nairobi pork food system: A value chain approach
Murungi, M.K.; M.; Muinde, P.; Akoko, J.; Rushton, J.; Fèvre, E.M.; Dominguez-Salas, P.; Muloi, D.; Häsler, B.; Alarcon, P.

Food safety challenges in smallholder pig value chains in Vietnam: From an assessment to feasible interventions using an integrated approach
Unger, F.; Lapar, L.; Van Hung, P.; Dang-Xuan, S.; Hong Ngan, P.; Rich, K.M.; Nguyen, H.; Grace, D.

Market based approaches for food safety and animal health interventions in smallholder pig systems: The case of Vietnam
Rich, K.M.; Thu Huyen, N.T.; Nam Ha, D.; Duong Nga, N.T.; Xuan, V.K.; Trung, N.X.; Van Long, T.; Van Hung, P.; Unger, F.; Hamza, K.; Lapar, L.

Present and future use of antimicrobials in pigs in developing countries and case studies from Uganda and Vietnam
Grace, D.; Unger, F.; Roesel, K.; Tinega, G.; Ndoboli, D.; Sinh, D.X.; Nguyen-Viet, H.; Robinson, T.

Risk-based approach for food safety applied to pork value chain in Vietnam
Nguyen-Viet, H.; Sinh, D.X.; Hanh, T.T.T.; Unger, F.; Grace, D.; Phuc, P.D.; Makita, K.

Serological and molecular investigation for brucellosis in swine in selected districts of Uganda
Erume, J.; Roesel, K.; Dione, M.M.; Ejobi, F.; Mboowa, G.; Kungu, J.; Akol, J.; Pezo, D.; El-Adawy, H.; Melzer, F.; Elschner, M.; Neubauer, H.; Grace, D.

Blog post contributed by ILRI scientists Delia Grace and Fred Unger

 

New book chapter explores how trade liberalization affects nutrition and health

Locally made beef stew sold in Bagnon market at Yopougon, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. Informal food trade is less amenable to regulation and may be an important cause of foodborne disease (photo credit: ILRI/Valentin Bognan Koné).

The World Health Organization last month (August 2015) published a book on trade and health that provides useful background information for health policymakers to formulate a national response to trade and health-related issues, especially within the context of liberalization of global trade.

Trade liberalization influences the entire food supply chain. Changes along the food supply chain in turn influence the environment in which consumers make choices about the food they eat. These choices affect the diets of consumers and, therefore, the prevalence of foodborne diseases, undernutrition, and obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases.

There are also indirect effects of trade liberalization on human nutrition and health. These include the effects on household incomes and the inadvertent entry of emerging human, animal and plant diseases.

However, assessing national-level nutrition and health impacts of trade and trade policy is a complex affair. Therefore, in a chapter on trade liberalization, food, nutrition and health, the authors discuss four basic steps that governments can adopt to assess the potential impact of trade liberalization on food-related health and nutrition. These are:

• an assessment of the types of impacts trade liberalization could have on a selected sub-set of key nodes in the food supply chain
• an assessment of the subsequent impact on food safety, food availability, food prices and food marketing
• an assessment on the food-related health outcomes themselves, namely foodborne diseases, undernutrition, and obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases
• an assessment of the implications of trade agreements on the policy space required to address these health conditions

The chapter also puts forward a number of opportunities for using trade policy to improve nutrition and health.

The chapter Trade liberalization, food, nutrition and health was authored by Corinna Hawkes, Honorary Fellow at the City University London Centre for Food Policy and Senior Adviser at the Leverhulme Center for Integrative Research into Agriculture and Health; Delia Grace, Program Leader, Food Safety and Zoonoses, International Livestock Research Institute and Anne Marie Thow, Lecturer in health policy at the Menzies Centre for Health Policy, University of Sydney.

Access the book, Trade and Health: Towards building a National Strategy, edited by Richard Smith, Chantal Blouin, Zafar Mirza, Peter Beyer and Nick Drager.

 

Ways forward for food safety in countries bearing the brunt of the world’s food-borne diseases

ILRI news

Roadside meat for sale in Nairobi, Kenya (picture on Flickr by Andrew Chipley).

This article is written by Delia Grace

A new paper on food safety in low- and middle-income countries was published today (27 Aug 2015). The paper is based on a longer learning resource commissioned by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), which will appear shortly. Both publications reflect what the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and its partners have learned over the last ten years since adopting a framework of risk analysis for assessing, managing and communicating about food safety in developing countries.

Some conclusions
The evidence indicates that low- and middle-income countries bear the brunt of food-borne disease; that developing-country consumers are concerned about food-borne diseases; that most of the known burden of food-borne disease comes from biological hazards; and that most food-borne disease results from eating contaminated perishable foods sold…

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New study recommends continued research on the possible role pigs could play in transmitting Ebola in Uganda

ILRI news

The map above shows high-risk areas due to a spatial overlap of three proposed risk factors for zoonotic Ebola virus transmission in Uganda: modelled zoonotic niche, domestic pig distribution and high numbers of people living in extreme poverty; the map is taken from a paper published in Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, Assessing the potential role of pigs in the epidemiology of Ebola virus in Uganda, by C Atherstone, E Smith, P Ochungo, K Roesel, D Grace, 27 August 2015 (figure credit: ILRI).

This article is written by two of this paper’s authors: Christine Atherstone, an ILRI researcher based in Uganda who leads this work and is lead author, and Delia Grace, who leads ILRI’s Food Safety and Zoonoses research program.

A new risk assessment paper, Assessing the potential role of pigs in the epidemiology of the Ebola virus in Uganda, was published in the science journal

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