Growing Forward 2 - Final Report Project II | Page 6

INTRODUCTION CVO Project II was designed to define Priority Initiatives for Ontario food-producing animal veterinarians to champion that will assist in minimizing antibiotic resistance. Along with the initiatives, the project outlines specific and detailed strategies to achieve each initiative. In September 2017, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) released its document “Tackling Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use: A Pan-Canadian Framework for Action” 8 . This framework is a high-level policy document outlining the context and foundation to guide the national approach to this issue, under 4 key areas for action. The next phase of this initiative will be the development of the corresponding Pan-Canadian action plan, which will lay out the details of concrete deliverables, measurable outcomes and timeframes. In fall of 2016, the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association, in collaboration with the Canadian Council of Veterinary Registrars, published the “Veterinary Oversight of Antimicrobial Use – A Pan-Canadian Framework of Professional Standards for Veterinarians” 9 . The objective of this document was to provide a template of professional standards to be used by the Canadian provincial and territorial veterinary regulatory (licensing) bodies when developing their own regulations, guidelines, or bylaws relating to the veterinarians’ professional responsibilities in providing oversight of the use of antimicrobials. In April 2014, the member companies of the Canadian Animal Health Institute, representing pharmaceutical manufacturers, announced their intent to work with the Veterinary Drugs Directorate, Health Canada, to phase out all label claims for use of antibiotics as growth promotants or for feed efficiency. 10 This change will also align all affected antibiotics with the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) policy on prudent use of antibiotics. In addition, in February 2017 Health Canada posted a notice to stakeholders regarding its proposal to move all medically important antimicrobials to the prescription drug list. 11 These label changes (claim changes and prescription status) are expected to come into effect by the end of 2018. On a provincial level, some regulatory organizations for veterinarians have moved to mandating continuing education for veterinarians specifically related to AMU. Examples of the materials utilized in these initiatives are a series of related educational videos 12 . Additionally, there have been advances resulting from various commodity group initiatives relating to the use of antibiotics on farms. As examples, the Antimicrobial Use Strategy, the Canadian Quality Milk program, and the Canadian Quality Assurance efforts have made considerable strides in recording and documenting use of antibiotics in the poultry, dairy and swine industries, respectively. These industries, and others, have made considerable progress toward appropriate use of antibiotics by mandating industry-wide documentation and implementation of farm-specific protocols. Veterinary species groups associated with these industries have played an active role in training, validation and certification for these programs. Overall, there has been a multiplicity of ongoing initiatives, involving numerous stakeholders at various levels. The CVO continues to follow, and be actively engaged in, many of these initiatives. However, a logical question remains as to what specific actions at the local level could or should comprise veterinary practitioners’ contributions to solutions that would reduce identified risks for the development of antibiotic resistance. As key participants within the antibiotic distribution pathway, “front-line” veterinarians, across species, have a critical role to play. Through their participation in this project, Ontario food-producing animal veterinarians were asked to create, and achieve consensus regarding, a systemic, specific, practical and realistic farm-level plan. In summary, CVO Project II was designed to define Priority Initiatives for Ontario food-producing animal veterinarians to champion that will assist in minimizing antibiotic resistance. Along with the initiatives, the project outlines specific and detailed strategies to achieve each initiative. http://www.wpro.who.int/entity/drug_resistance/resources/global_action_plan_eng.pdf http://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Media_Center/docs/pdf/PortailAMR/EN_OIE-AMRstrategy.pdf http://www.un.org/pga/71/2016/09/21/closing-remarks-at-general-assembly-high-level-meeting-on-antimicrobial-resistance/ 5 http://antibiotic-action.com/g7-health-ministers-declaration-on-amr/ 6 https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/antibiotic-antimicrobial-resistance/antimicrobial-resistance-use-canada-federal-framework-action.html 7 http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/alt/pdf/publications/drugs-products-medicaments-produits/antibiotic-resistance-antibiotique/action-plan-daction-eng.pdf 8 https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/drugs-health-products/tackling-antimicrobial-resistance-use-pan-canadian-framework-action.html 9 https://www.canadianveterinarians.net/documents/pan-canadian-framework 10 https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/veterinary-drugs/antimicrobial-resistance/notice-stakeholders-collaborative-efforts-promote-judicious-use- medically-important-antimicrobial-drugs-food-animal-production.html 11 https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/drugs-health-products/drug-products/prescription-drug-list/notice-veterinary-antimicrobials.html 12 http://nbvma-amvnb.ca/fr/antibiotic-resistance-video-series-pei/ 2 3 4 College of Veterinarians of Ontario  6