Germany’s strategy on antimicrobial resistance includes mandatory notification of every use of antimicrobials in selected livestock species. Farms that ranked high for antimicrobial usage (AMU) in comparison to other farms in the same category have to plan and report on measures taken to reduce their antimicrobial usage. The respective regulation has been in place since 2014 and required an external evaluation of its impact.
SAFOSO was contracted by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture to support this evaluation. For this purpose, SAFOSO conducted focus group discussions and a comprehensive online survey among German farmers and veterinarians, and coordinated the preparation of an evaluation report integrating evidence from different sources. These sources included the analysis of a comprehensive body of data on veterinary antimicrobials sales and use and the AMU indices in the concerned animal species, as well as data from the German antimicrobial resistance monitoring programmes in livestock, provided by the responsible federal authorities.
The results of the evaluation showed that a reduction in AMU was reached for all species covered by the strategy, and positive effects of this reduction on the development of AMR were noticed. The quality of data recording by livestock owners was good, but supervision and inspection by the authorities required significant efforts. The evaluation report was addressed to the German Parliament in June 2019. The final report is available through the website of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
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