Health and Antibiotics in Vietnamese Pig Production II
Info
Start date: 1 December, 2021 End date: 31 July, 2024 Project type: Research projects in countries with targeted development cooperation (earlier Window 2) Project code: 20-M10KU Countries: Vietnam Thematic areas: Food security and safety, Lead institution: University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark Partner institutions: National Institute of Veterinary Research (NIVR), Vietnam National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Vietnam Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS), Vietnam Laboratory for Swine Diseases (SEGES), Denmark Project coordinator: Anders Dalsgaard Total grant: 4,998,157 DKKProject summary
Rising antimicrobial resistance is a major human health concern. In Vietnam, (over)use of antimicrobials in the country’s sizeable pork industry has been a key contributor to the problem.
From 2017-2020, the research project Vida-PIG I provided valuable insights into the spread of resistance on Vietnamese pig farms and into important drivers of farmers’ antimicrobials use. Its successor, Vida-PIG II, will add more insight and use those to design and test practical solutions.
Vida-PIG I found traces of antimicrobials and antimicrobial resistance on many pig farms and in feed products. It also found that farmers often purchase and use antimicrobials while lacking adequate knowledge of pig diseases and pathogens, effective disease control strategies, and limitations and risks of antimicrobial drugs. They are often advised by drug stores that also lack such knowledge, in part because some of it does not currently exist.
Vietnam’s recent adoption of regulation that mandates prescriptions for sales of veterinary drugs has further underscored a need for
- better insight into the prevalence of a range of viral, bacterial, and parasitic pig pathogens and diseases impacting Vietnamese pig farms,
- practical diagnostical tools to distinguish between them at farms,
- clear guidelines that help farmers choose the right antimicrobials or other, often better disease control options, and- access for farmers, veterinarians and drug stores to the information and tools they need to make good decisions.
Vida-PIG II research will help address these needs.
The project will also explore whether probiotics, increasingly being marketed as alternative disease prevention options, in some cases contribute to antimicrobial resistance by containing resistant bacteria.
Vida-PIG II will further add to Vietnam’s capacity to effectively address antimicrobial use in its pig industry and, through that, help reduce the spread of antimicrobial resistance in that country.
