World AMR Awareness Week: Preventing Antibiotic-Resistant Superbugs Is Everyone’s Responsibility

By working together, veterinarians and animal owners have an essential role to play in preventing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and safeguarding antibiotics for when they are needed most in human and animal health.

This is the message from the New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA) Te Pae Kīrehe for World AMR Awareness Week (18-24 November 2024), a week that is also promoted by agencies such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to reduce the development and spread of drug-resistant infections. This year’s international theme is: "Educate. Advocate. Act now".

The NZVA today launches a series of videos that raise AMR awareness by challenging some of the common misconceptions about antibiotics. The underlying message is for animal owners to work closely with their vet teams and reduce antimicrobial use by keeping vaccinations up-to-date, and using good hygiene and animal welfare practices.

NZVA AMR Committee Chair Annabel Harris says everyone has a part to play in preventing AMR. "We’ve lived in a golden age where antibiotics have been readily available."

"They have been and continue to be an amazing tool, but the reality is we’re not developing new antibiotics that will treat infections without damaging the host, and we’ve already seen the effects of AMR in New Zealand and overseas," she says.

"We’ve got this taonga in the form of antibiotics that we need to protect. It’s easy to forget what it was like when we didn’t have access to these amazing tools, so it’s on all of us to protect them. Preventing further AMR is possible and there are practical ways we can all achieve this."

Myth-busting video launch

This World AMR Awareness Week the NZVA is also busting common myths about antibiotics used for animals in five fun videos. Launched today, the series, ‘Myth-busting antibiotics and animals’, features veterinarian Dr Stephen (Hoppy) Hopkinson discussing common misconceptions about antibiotics with great tips on how you can help protect these important medicines.

Dr Hopkinson says it’s important to remember that the antibiotics used for animals are the same ones used for humans, and if they stop working, we risk not being able to treat deadly infections.

"Like our own doctors, vets prescribe these drugs very carefully because overusing them or prescribing them for the wrong things can lead to resistant superbugs. We really encourage animal owners to work with their vet teams to reduce the need for antibiotics."

Our first myth-buster video, ‘Antibiotics can fix everything’, is now available HERE. In total, we’ll be sharing five videos - one a week for the next five weeks.

NZVA CEO Kevin Bryant said we have come a long way to protect the long-term effectiveness of antibiotics, but there is still work to do. "Veterinarians, large animal and companion animal owners; lifestyle block owners; and animal industries all have a part to play in reducing the use of antibiotics to safeguard them for our future," he says. "We believe more research is also required to support the prevention of illness and disease in animals to reduce the need for antibiotics."

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