Thanks, Irene and James.
With regards to the best approach of communicating resistance in other microbes, I do agree that the collective term "antimicrobials" should be used in all campaigns. The emphasis has always been on antibiotics and bacteria and not much on the other bugs (except for scientists and researchers who are working specifically in these areas). The message should be clear that any medicine that is used for whatever type of infection or disease should be used only when absolutely needed in order to prevent bacteria from developing resistance to them.
One thing I also found interesting from my engagement with farmers is the use of the "cocktail" of drugs. Here, you have a sachet of medicine labeled "anti-stressor" or "multivitamin" but which in actual fact has a certain amount of antimicrobials incorporated into it. Some farmers would innocently use these without knowing the full content. The cocktails are often administered as growth promoters hence exposing bacteria to minute amounts of the antimicrobials that lead to resistance.
As Irene said, feed producers should be included in the list of priority stakeholders. I do understand that in a bid to compete for the market, producers are somewhat under pressure to ensure that farmers get optimum productivity when they use their products and hence might be compelled to incorporate certain levels of antimicrobials in the feeds. This again is the reason we need serious engagement. The people need to understand the consequences of their actions and take responsibility for propagating and doing right when it comes to AMR stewardship.
The message should also be very clear on AMU, "the intent is not to stop complete use of antimicrobials because they are essential and do save lives but to use them only when absolutely necessary so we do not run out of them".
Even though we need technocrats and people in other sectors to pass on the right message, from my experience of working with farmers, they are more likely to do the right thing when they understand the implications of their actions and when you present to them alternatives. For instance, if you say they shouldn't use antimicrobials, then one must be willing to invest in training them on good biosecurity and husbandry measures and other prevention strategies. As long as this new alternative results in increased profit, less cost and improved productivity, they will most likely go with it.
Dr. Chioma Achi