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LEGN provided a series of well-received presentations on the topic of legislation as an effective tool in the fight against AMR at a recent African Regional training event on AMR legislation on 25^th May 2021. This training workshop was organized by FAORAF and benefited from the participation of the FAO AMR technical teams in West, East and Southern Africa. The overall objective of the workshop was to explain in detail the FAO “Methodology to Analyse AMR-Relevant Legislation in the Food and Agriculture Sector”, as well as to discuss potential options for addressing AMR through national and regional regulatory frameworks in Africa.

The audience – mostly  legal and technical experts of the African region from different sectors pertaining to human and animal health, animal production, agriculture, aquaculture and the environment, as well as government representatives – learned of the various legal areas relevant for AMR and actively participated in the discussions in both French and English, raising a number of important questions for FAO’s experts to consider. Indeed, over 200 people were still in deep conversation 40 minutes past the scheduled closure time of the workshop!

In the spirit of One Health, the workshop also listened to  an WHO colleague, who explained how the Tripartite (FAO, WHO and OIE) are currently working together, with funding from the Multi-partner Tripartite Trust Fund, to upgrade the FAO AMR Methodology to a true One Health Tool, expanding it to also cover human health legislation.

 At the end of the training workshop, participants urged FAO to provide further training on AMR and specific in-country support to analyse their legal frameworks.