News

WH Forum misses opportunity

The White House may have missed an opportunity when they hosted representatives from the human health and animal health sectors to discuss antibiotic resistance.

Dr. Ron DeHaven, CEO of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) says the two groups were only together for the opening session of the Antibiotic Stewardship Forum before splitting into separate groups.

“It’s unfortunate from my perspective that we didn’t have joint sessions where we could, again, look for that common ground and look for areas we can explore where we might not have total agreement,” said DeHaven.

The AVMA head said during informal discussions with representatives from the human health sector, it was apparent the animal health sector needs to do a better job of communicating what’s already being done to combat antibiotic resistance in food animals.

“They’re not aware of some of the proactive things that we are doing,” DeHaven said. “Such as phasing out the use of antibiotics for growth promotion and greater veterinary oversight in the use of antimicrobials in food animals.”

Audio: Dr. Ron DeHaven, CEO, American Veterinary Medical Assn.

For more on antimicrobial use and resistance go here.