Codex texts have been recognized by the second High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) that took place at the United Nations headquarters in New York on 26 September, as a basis for managing the spread of AMR within the food and agriculture sectors. In the political declaration that was adopted following the meeting, members of the United Nations General Assembly recognize the growing and urgent threat posed by AMR globally, and “the need to scale up multisectoral, cross-sectoral and inter-disciplinary efforts and the engagement of all relevant sectors to address antimicrobial resistance in human, animal and plant health”.

With regard to agriculture and animal health, the international community, through the political declaration, acknowledges the drivers of AMR and the challenges associated with containing its spread. In particular, the declaration acknowledges “the impact of antimicrobial growth promoters on antimicrobial resistance and … encourage[s] the prudent and responsible use of antimicrobials when used prophylactically based on an ambitious, incremental, and country-specific approach building upon the Codex Alimentarius Antimicrobial Resistance Standards, including the Code of Practice and relevant World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) guidance, as appropriate.”

The commitments made by the international community with regard to tackling AMR in agriculture align with and reference the Codex AMR texts. The Declaration also encourages FAO to build upon these texts and develop further guidance for countries “to prevent and reduce the use of antimicrobials in plant agriculture”.

The Declaration also requests the Quadripartite organizations - FAO, the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Health Organization and WOAH - “to update the Global Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance by 2026 to ensure a robust and inclusive multisectoral response, through a One Health approach, that aligns with current realities to drive greater impact against antimicrobial resistance.”

The day-long meeting consisted of a plenary session that heard statements by Member States and Observers of the General Assembly, and two multi-stakeholder panel sessions, one on “addressing the urgent global risk of antimicrobial resistance across the human, animal, plant and environmental sectors through equity, access, building awareness and innovation,” and the second on “addressing human health, animal health, agrifood systems and protecting the environment to tackle antimicrobial resistance, through surveillance, capacity-building, sustainable resources, financing and investment.”

The first High-Level Meeting on AMR took place in 2016.

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High-level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) (un.org)
Policial Declaration
Foodborne antimicrobial resistance - Compendium of Codex standards