‘… the free availability of over-the-counter antibiotics urgently requires regulatory review to put all antibiotics under veterinary oversight and eliminate [their] irresponsible use’

– Prof Moritz van Vuuren of the University of Pretoria says South Africa must urgently establish a national veterinary surveillance programme for bacterial resistance to antibiotics (

South Africa’s intensive animal production industries have made significant progress over the past decade in reducing the unnecessary use of antibiotics. In fact, the country’s animal health sector was actually using lower quantities of antibiotics than its human health counterpart, according to Moritz van Vuuren, a professor of virology at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases.

World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW), which takes place from 12 to 19 November, was introduced by the World Organisation for Animal Health, the World Health Organization, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, in response to the ‘misuse and overuse of antimicrobials’, which was leading to the increasing resistance of bacterial pathogens to these medicines.

Van Vuuren said that while many role players in South Africa’s animal health and production sector had actively implemented successful antimicrobial resistance (AMR) awareness campaigns over the past 10 years, more still needed to be done.

“The critical issues that have to be addressed are the establishment of a national veterinary surveillance programme for bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and the restriction of antibiotic use in animals to veterinary oversight,” he said. Van Vuuren explained that the absence of a national surveillance system was a huge disadvantage when trying to manage AMR. “Similarly, the free availability of over-thecounter antibiotics urgently requires regulatory review to put all antibiotics under veterinary oversight and eliminate [their] irresponsible use,” he said.

Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) spokesperson, Zweli Silangwe, said that DAFF was “working on” a surveillance plan that would “advise on the extent of the [AMR] challenge”. DAFF was aiming to implement this plan in the next financial year. – Lloyd Phillips

Lloyd Phillips RIGHT: Ahead of World Antibiotic Awareness Week 2018, South Africa’s animal production sector has reportedly made significant strides over the past decade in reducing the indiscriminate use of antimicrobials.