Working Group on Antimicrobial Resistance

The Working Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (hereafter, the “WG AMR”) was established by the Director General following Resolution No. 14 adopted at the 87^th WOAH General Session, in 2019 following the OIE 2^nd Global Conference on Antimicrobial Resistance; the WG AMR replaced the ad-hoc group on Antimicrobial Resistance to ensure the sustainability of WOAH Strategy on Antimicrobial Resistance and Prudent Use. The WG AMR is expected to maintain a global perspective and foresight on antimicrobial resistance regarding animal health and the interface with human health, food production and the environment, under a One Health approach.

Purpose and responsibilities

The WG AMR is responsible for:

1. Supporting WOAH in the implementation of its Strategy on AMR and Prudent Use of Antimicrobials and its four-pillar workplan: improve awareness and understanding; strengthen knowledge through surveillance and research; support  good governance and capacity building at country and regional levels; encourage the implementation of international standards.

2. Supporting WOAH and its Members when implementing the recommendations made during the 2^nd Global Conference on AMR and Prudent Use of Antimicrobial Agents: Putting Standards into Practice (Marrakesh, October 2018).

3. Assisting the Director General and Specialist Commissions to identify risks and risk management options associated with AMR through development and maintenance of International Standards in the Terrestrial and Aquatic Animal Health Codes and Manuals.

4. Providing advice and input to WOAH when addressing  important issues not yet addressed in its work programme, including AMR in the context of pandemic preparedness.

5. Providing technical advice and feedback on WOAH activities related to AMR and where relevant, veterinary products in aquatic and terrestrial animals conducted at global, regional and country levels. These activities may include:

• update and refinement of Quadripartite’s Global Action Plan and its related workplan in anticipation of UNGA 2024 and follow up Quadripartite workplan;
• supporting activities of WOAH Collaborating Centres related to veterinary medicinal products and AMR and encourage the establishment and implementation of an effective network of expertise in support of the WOAH and its Members;
• support and advise WOAH in its interactions and collaborations with the broad network of animal and veterinary public health sector partners and stakeholders to achieve strong coordination on AMR within this community of interest;

6. Assessment and provision of feedback on ways to improve synergy and complementarity and avoid overlap and duplication of WOAH activities with the work/ activities of other organisations.

Membership

1. All members of the WG AMR shall be specialists recognised at an international level, and shall be selected for their competence (i.e., more than 15 years of work expertise on AMR in animal health and related sectors such as agriculture, food production, or environment, ideally across sectors, following a One Health approach); this competence may have been acquired whilst working in veterinary practice, academia, competent authorities and/or private sector.

2. In addition to the aforementioned expertise recognition, membership should lead to a balanced and adequate geographic representation, as well as a balanced representation in gender.

3. Identification of candidates will be done through consultation of WOAH Collaborating Centres, reference laboratories, regional and subregional offices, relevant organisations or any other stakeholder within WOAH’s network. This process may include setting up an open call for expression of interest. WG AMR Secretariat will gather resumés and other relevant documentation provided by candidates, for further consideration by the Director General.

4. Members will be appointed by the Director General for a period of 3 years with a possibility to extend its mandate based on the level of engagement and extent and quality of work conducted by the member within the WG AMR.

5. At each annual Session, the Director General shall report its composition to the World Assembly of Delegates (“the Assembly”) for information.

6. In the exercise of their functions, members shall serve WOAH exclusively; in that capacity they may not request or receive instructions from any government or authority external to WOAH.

7. Members shall provide the Director General with a statement covering potential conflicts of interest between themselves and any commercial entity in accordance with the procedure established by the Director General.

8. Members shall respect the legitimate confidentiality of information with which they may be entrusted in the performance of their functions and shall submit such an undertaking to the Director General.

9. The WG AMR should be composed of at least a Chairperson, a rapporteur and not less than two other ordinary members at any given time.

Mode of Operation

1. The WG AMR shall meet at least twice a year, usually in March/April and September/October, ideally in-person, with  hybrid or fully virtual forms remaining open depending on the overall context. These meetings will be open to members of the AMR and Veterinary Products (VP) Department, as well as to members of other Departments, when deemed relevant for the purposes of the agenda.

2. Routine business between meetings should be addressed by the WG AMR or a subgroup of the WG AMR via email exchanges with the support of the Secretariat.

3. The WG AMR will revise and assess the progress of their workplan during its biannual meetings.

4. The WG AMR shall normally reach decisions by consensus; if consensus cannot be reached, then input may be requested from specialistic commissions, or from the DG for clarification via the Secretariat

5. The operating language of the WG AMR will be English.

6. The WG AMR will provide an update of their activities to the Director General and to Members during the WOAH General Session.

7. The WG AMR will provide a written report of its meetings and teleconferences to the WOAH Director General. The reports will be available for WOAH Members on the organisation’s website.

8. The Director General may request individual WG AMR members to participate in AMR related ad hoc Groups or Subgroups, or to represent WOAH in relevant meetings or conferences.

9. The Working Group will develop and subsequently revise an annual work plan based on priorities identified by the WOAH Director General.

10. Representatives of WHO, FAO and UNEP will be invited to participate as active observers in the WOAH WG AMR biannual meetings at their own cost.

11. Representatives from relevant private sector organisations that have a cooperation agreement with WOAH may also be invited to participate as active observers, depending on the agenda, at their own cost.

Chair

1. The chair shall be selected within the WG AMR and appointed by the Director General.

2. The chair liaises with the Secretariat on behalf of the WG AMR.

3. The chair revises and approves the agenda compiled by the Secretariat for the WG AMR biannual meetings.

4. The chair moderates the WG AMR biannual meetings with support of the Secretariat and enumerates the agreed actions and decisions made by the WG AMR to be included it is meeting report.

5. The chair is responsible for reporting the WG AMR activities to the DG and to Members during the WOAH’s annual General Session with support of the Secretariat.

6. The chair is responsible for providing updates on ongoing revision of WOAH Standards to relevant Commissions when required with the support of the Secretariat.

7. The WG AMR Chair will maintain additional regular communication with the WOAH AMR and VP Department and other Departments as appropriate.

Rapporteur

1. The rapporteur will be appointed by the chair at the beginning of each meeting.

2. The rapporteur will revise and provide input for the proceedings of the WG AMR meeting within one week of receiving these. The proceedings will include key resolutions and workplan progress made by the WG AMR and will be prepared with the support of the WOAH secretariat.

Secretariat

1. Preparing  and sending  formal meeting invitations on behalf of WOAH to members of the WG AMR and observers (FAO, WHO, UNEP) via email. Delegates of countries where members of WG AMR reside will also be included for information.

2. Coordinating venue needs for face-to-face meetings.

3. Assisting in the collation and preparation of meeting working documents and agenda with the input of the WG AMR chair.

4. Preparing meeting report drafts under the oversight of the WG AMR rapporteur. The meeting reports shall be reviewed by the WG AMR Chair and the Head of the AMR and VP Department. The final report shall be signed off by the DDG and translated into the WOAH official languages.

5. Providing assistance in the preparation of technical documents developed by the WG AMR and ad hoc groups.

6. Updating the  WG AMR webpage with meeting reports and technical documents.

7. Facilitating communication between WG AMR and specialistic Commissions.

8. Animating the WG AMR during the whole year, fostering cohesion and engagement.

Responsible: AMR-VP Department

This workplan is filtered by planned and ongoing tasks only, which will be discussed at the next AMRWG meeting in April 2025.

For further information on completed tasks, please contact the AMRWG secretariat [email protected] or [email protected].