Growing Forward 2 - Final Report Project II | Page 5

INTRODUCTION
As part of its public interest mandate, the College
has supported veterinary initiatives
that promote public and animal health.
The CVO 2017 Strategic Framework identified,
as one of four key objectives, the advancement of
One Health stewardship enabling public health initiatives
within veterinary medicine.
The Council of the College of Veterinarians of Ontario (CVO)
recognizes the importance of One Health stewardship, as well
as the value of being actively involved in the conversation
about antibiotic use and the development of resistance. One
Health recognizes that the health of people, animals and
the environment are all connected and, as such, physicians,
ecologists and veterinarians all share the responsibility of
managing and controlling threats to public health.
As part of its public interest mandate, the College has supported
veterinary initiatives that promote public and animal health.
The CVO 2017 Strategic Framework identified, as one of four
key objectives, the advancement of One Health stewardship
enabling public health initiatives within veterinary medicine. By
demonstrating clear and proactive leadership, and by identifying
key issues requiring stewardship, the CVO has provided energy
and resources to advance initiatives important to the public and
the veterinary profession. This commitment has continued with
the current strategic Plan, Strategy 2020, established in 2017,
which includes championing One Health initiatives through
veterinary leadership as a key objective.
In line with these objectives, since 2014, the Council of the CVO
has provided leadership in promoting the stewardship of the
appropriate use of antibiotics in veterinary medicine. With the
support of funding from the governments’ Growing Forward 2
(GF2) initiative, the CVO has conducted two projects focused
on antibiotic use in food-producing animals. As part of its public
interest mandate, the CVO has supported the contribution of
veterinary medicine to public health, and continues to bring its
voice and influence to this important topic.
The increasing threat posed by the resistance of bacterial
pathogens to antibiotics involves, and impacts, veterinarians. As
antibiotics are an important component of modern veterinary
care, all veterinarians share the responsibility of addressing
the potential impact of resistance to antibiotics on human and
animal health. Appropriate and judicious use of antibiotics is
imperative, as every use of an antibiotic increases the possibility
for the development of resistance, and further promotes the
dissemination of resistant bacteria and resistance genes. If
the development of antibiotic resistance continues unchecked,
antibiotics will continue to lose their effectiveness, and ailments
that are currently treatable with antibiotics may become
untreatable. The continued emergence of resistant bacteria,
in conjunction with a lack of new antibiotic products being
developed and marketed, poses a worldwide human health
threat.
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Government and public discourse on the impact of antibiotic
resistance on human health has continued to mount, particularly
at a national and international levels. In recent years several
changes regarding the use of antibiotics have been made in
response to this increasing threat. Some of these changes are
at the global level; some initiatives are national in scope; and
some actions are focused at the provincial or local level. While
many of the changes impact the broader agricultural and
pharmaceutical industries, some of the efforts are aimed at, and
impact, food-producing animal veterinarians directly.
At the global level, a number of efforts have resulted from both
political and public awareness of AMR (antimicrobial resistance).
For example, the World Health Organization published a Global
Action Plan on AMR (2015) 2 . This Plan emphasized that AMR is a
crisis that must be managed with the utmost urgency. Similarly,
at the 83rd General Assembly of the OIE – World Organisation
for Animal Health in 2015 3 , all 180 Member Countries made a
commitment to support the World Health Organisation Global
Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance, and to encourage the
development of National Action Plans in each country. This
shared commitment highlights the increasing awareness of the
threat posed by resistant pathogens, and the need for action.
More recently, the United Nations General Assembly staged a
high-level meeting on AMR in September of 2016 4 , making this
only the fourth time that a health issue was brought before
the Assembly. In 2017, the G7 Health Ministers outlined their
“Berlin Declaration on AMR” 5 , and agreed on moving forward
with implementation of the actions outlined in this declaration.
In Canada, in October 2014, the federal government released
a report entitled “Antimicrobial Resistance and Use in
Canada: a Federal Framework for Action” 6 (“the Framework”).
Subsequently, in March 2015, the “Federal Action Plan on
Antimicrobial Resistance and Use in Canada” 7 was released.
This document, which builds on the Framework, became an
important milestone for the initiation of several developments.
For example, Health Canada has moved forward with
amendments to the Food and Drug Regulations. To be specific,
revisions to the regulations for own use importation (OUI) of
veterinary drugs by individuals for use on their own animals
will be introduced in November of 2017, and regulations to
strengthen the oversight of importation and quality of active
pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for veterinary use will come
into e ffect in May 2018. The purpose of these amendments
is to protect public health, animal health and food safety, and
facilitate improved veterinary oversight of antimicrobial use in
animals.
Setting an Action Agenda for Veterinary Stewardship of Antibiotic Use in Food-Producing Animals in Ontario