Antimicrobial use in animals: a journey towards integrated surveillance

In 2015, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE) initiated the annual collection of data on antimicrobials intended for use in animals using a Microsoft Excel questionnaire. In 2022, WOAH initiated the migration to a customised interactive online system: ANIMUSE Global Database. This system enables national Veterinary Services not only to monitor and report data more easily and more accurately, but also to visualise, analyse and use data for surveillance purposes to their own benefit in the implementation of national action plans on antimicrobial resistance. This journey started seven years ago, with progressive improvements in the way data are collected, analysed and reported and continuous adaptations to overcome various challenges encountered (e.g. data confidentiality, training of civil servants, calculation of active ingredients, standardisation to enable fair comparisons and trend analyses, and data interoperability). Technical developments have been key in the success of this endeavour. However, it is important not to underestimate the importance of the human element: to listen to WOAH Members and their needs, and to exchange to solve issues, adapt tools, and gain and maintain trust. The journey is not over yet, and more developments are foreseen, such as to complement current data sources with data collected directly at the farm level; strengthen interoperability and integrated analysis with cross-sectoral databases; and facilitate institutionalisation of data collection and systematic use in monitoring, evaluation, lesson learning, reporting and, eventually, surveillance of antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance when implementing and updating national action plans. This paper describes how all these challenges were overcome and how future challenges will be addressed.