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/
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http://antibiotic-action.com/g7-health-ministers-declaration-on-amr/
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https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/antibiotic-antimicrobial-resistance/antimicrobial-resistance-use-canada-federal-framework-action.html
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http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/alt/pdf/publications/drugs-products-medicaments-produits/antibiotic-resistance-antibiotique/action-plan-daction-eng.pdf
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https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/publications/drugs-health-products/tackling-antimicrobial-resistance-use-pan-canadian-framework-action.html
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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
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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/
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College of Veterinarians of Ontario
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