The UK One Health Report has today been published by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate. The report brings together data on the levels of antibiotic use in humans and animals. The story has so far been factually covered in Farming UK.
It finds that the total combined quantity of antibiotics used in human and veterinary medicine dropped by 19% between 2013 and 2017. This is positive as the more antibiotics we use the more we create the conditions for superbugs to develop.
The levels of resistance also dropped in this timeframe for the majority of antibiotics tested in bacterial isolates from food-producing animals.
Professor Peter Borriello, CEO of the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, said:
A key priority for the UK government is to protect human and animal health by minimising the development and spread of antibiotic resistance. Our total combined use of antibiotics in humans and animals dropped by 19% between 2013 and 2017, and represented falls for both animal (35%) and human (6%) medicine. Overall, there was a reduction in resistance to critical antibiotics.
I am pleased to see our progress presented in this second One Health report, which provides valuable information for us to use to progress further in tackling the threat of AMR together.
The report follows the five year AMR Strategy, launched on 24 January, which sets out the ambition for AMR to be contained and controlled by 2040, covering health, animals, the environment and the food chain.