On May 27-28, USAID and its program partner, the World Health Organization (WHO), held a workshop for representatives from the Ministries of Health (MOH) and Agriculture (MAWR), along with the newly established United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, to discuss a food safety systems survey in Uzbekistan. Survey results revealed that anti-microbial resistance (AMR) detected from the two most common foodborne pathogens, Salmonella and Campylobacter, is linked to the improper use of antibiotics in Uzbekistan’s poultry industry.
The survey is the first operational research funded by USAID focused on these two common foodborne pathogens analyzing patients with acute intestinal illness and raw poultry, and the corresponding resistance patterns. The workshop raised awareness of AMR as a food safety issue and highlighted the responsibilities of stakeholders in food production to prevent and control the spread of AMR throughout the food chain.
This program strengthens Embassy Tashkent’s collective effort to foster a One Health approach to disease surveillance and response between the MOH and MAWR and reinforces efforts by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). The CDC is additionally working with Republican Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology of Infectious Diseases (RIEMID) to initiate research studies in the field of AMR. The One Health concept is a worldwide strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans, animals, and the environment.
